Why Did I Try 10 Brands of Manuka Honey For Health?

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I Love eating Manuka Honey for health!

I eat a teaspoon of manuka honey in the morning and a teaspoon just before I sleep for health benefits such as to boost my immunity.

I am not alone in doing that. I was introduced to this by friends who have improved their family and their immunity systems from this daily food.

Maori loves manuka honey!

Manuka honey- used in New Zealand for healing

Manuka honey has been used by the Maori community in New Zealand for centuries because of its incredible anti-bacterial and healing properties, and celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johannson are said to be big fans.

“It really adds an amazing glow and your skin is so soft afterwards. It pulls out the impurities—and it’s a nice foundation, especially if you are going to a big event where you want a great glow and you want to take that extra 15 minutes to do a treatment before you put your makeup on. It preps your skin in a really nice way” – Scarlett Johannson

Scarlett Johansson uses manuka honey for facial beauty

I have not put honey on my face though.. LOL. I do use manuka honey based skincare though:- royal nectar face mask and lifting cream. You probably have to ask my wife whether it works for me 🙂

Honey has been known for its special properties for thousands of years. And we have learnt that certain honeys from specific plants have a greater range of attributes than others, and the honey that comes from some varieties of the New Zealand Manuka bush (Leptospermum scoparium) is one of these.

Manuka honey is produced in New Zealand by bees that pollinate the native manuka bush.
Advocates say it treats wound infections and other conditions.

The manuka flower which bees makes honey

I usually buy manuka honey that has at least UMF 10+, to treat illness such as sore throats, stomach disorder such as stomach ulcer. Scientific studies have shown that they inhibits the bacteria growth!

Beware of fakes! 90% of manuka honey are fake!

When I first started buying, I was not aware of the global scam. I thought MGO, MG, Active, AMF, and all these funny names and letters are all just different names. I learnt that 90% of the manuka honey sold worldwide is fake, because scammers use honey or corn syrup to sell for a high profit.

New Zealand government is aware of this and enforce UMF labelling, you can check for manuka honey UMF authenticity and see whether the brand you are eating is endorsed by New Zealand Government UMF Board.

If you have external wound, you can also apply a little manuka honey to the wound, and dress with a bandage. It draws healing fluids and nutrition to affected area and creates a natural thin layer of moisture at the wound surface. Hence when you remove the dressing, you would not damage new regrowing tissues and allow your wound to heal faster.

Eating Manuka Honey regularly

For daily care, I take a spoonful of honey before meal, once or twice a day. Usually I take one spoonful before I sleep, and 1 spoonful in the morning before breakfast.

This is the most important as PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE, a key feature of manuka honey’s anti-oxidant properties. It appears that it slow the oxidation process in the body, which is associated with many degenerative health conditions.
Manuka Honey may anti-oxidise and protect us from free radical unstable oxygen damage in our bodies.

However, not all honey is made equal.
I have tested more than 20 brands but is now only using that few brands from New Zealand.

More than 20 brands manuka honey in New Zealand and Hong Kong

i tried more than 10 brands of manuka honey (20 brands as of 2018)
i tried more than 10 brands of manuka honey (20 brands as of 2018)

These are some of the honey i tried before i concluded on the best brands.

【Edit: As of June 2018, I have tried more than 20 brands, for tasting and checking out the NZ farms. Comvita still wins hands down for the most favourite public brand. For me taste wise, it seems like Taku is still the best tasting, mild sweet version.

I must have consumed more than 10 brands of honey before concluding the two best brands…
there are so many reviews to read, so many things to check, and the best way is to test it on myself.

Comvita- Most famous globally and Hong Kong

Comvita Manuka Honey

One is Comvita, the only public listed honey company in the world. Comvita beekeepers are the experts in the honey crop, and the Comvita quality system filters out any low quality ingredients to ensure that only the best honey will make the Comvita Manuka UMF® Honey quality grade. No other company knows Manuka honey like Comvita.
The only drawback is that due to the high quality, Comvita honey retails for $750 in Hong Kong! It is certainly a very pricey honey but well worth the price!

Kare – New Zealand’s top favourite manuka honey

For a more mid-range price brand, the other brand I buy for regular consumption is Kare UMF® Honey. It is a great brand, direct from the farm and the beekeepers are strictly trained to ensure good quality honey. The activity levels of all Kare UMF® honeys are backed up by guarantee certificates and copies of the relevant laboratory testing certificates and UMFHA certificates.

Kare New Zealand locals favourite manuka honey
Kare New Zealand locals favourite manuka honey

Kare is one of those family farm brands that you can trust, I buy lots of them as gifts for my business partners and associates. Coincidentally, this is my wife’s favourite as it is less sweet and more bitter compared to other brands.

Taku – My favourite manuka honey because harvested by Maori

One last brand I encountered recently is Taku Manuka UMF® honey. Taku is a Maori cultivated honeyfarm. The Maori are the peoples of the land before British established New Zealand as a colony. The Maoris are the one who discovered and understand the manuka bush. I have personally met up with the family that created Taku and oh boy, they have immense pride in their works!

Taku Manuka Honey

What Does Real Authentic Manuka Honey Looks like?

How does real manuka honey looks like? First, different brands and different season may have different textures and tastes. Do not be alarmed if your honey tastes different from the last bottle even if it is the same brand and same UMF. Seasonality affects the manuka bush as well as the bees, so be prepared for slightly different tastes and texture.

However, manuka honey should be relative smooth, thick and not with grainy coarse texture.

A lot of fake manuka honey out there are nothing more than dissolved sugar or syrup, where it is grainy and tastes overly-sweet.

Do check out www.umf.org.nz to ensure your brand is in there, and make sure you are buying from authorised dealers.

For UMF certified manuka honey, you may visit Honey City (Manuka Honey Experts in Hong Kong) for the best lowest price in Asia. We airflow in from New Zealand regularly and do our due dilligent to ensure that our manuka honey are authentic and UMF certified. Take them daily to boost your immunity.

For more such healthcare and beauty tips, please do LIKE honeycity on facebook because of valuable health tips!  You may also facebook message their team there or email at info@honeycity.hk if you have more questions.

Sincerely,

Cedric – The honey eater since 1998

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