What if somebody tells you that there is a kind of honey whose cost can go up to 1,000 euro
per jar? Whatever your answer is, this kind of expensive honey exists for real and can be found 18,000 km far away from Italy.
Welcome to New Zealand, a place in which a natural shrub with white, red, or pink flowers
arises. The Leptospermum Scoparium, also known as Manūka, is a local shrub of the fifth
continent, whose habitat reveals to be perfect for the honeybees. Then, the pollinators, by
extracting the nectar from the flower, create highly beneficial honey. Let’s learn the reason.
First, Manūka honey contains the so-called Methylglyoxal (MGO), an active ingredient
favoring antibacterial effect. In this regard, previous studies at the University of Dresden
(Germany) found a direct correlation between MGO and the honey’s antibacterial feature,
with concentrations going between 100 and 800 mg/Kg. To understand the honey
peculiarity, suffice to say that concentrations observed in other types of honey reach an
amount of a maximum of 20mg/Kg.
Second, Manūka honey has a lenitive and healing action, which facilitates cutaneous
injuries heal, and stimulates tissues renewal.
Why the Manūka honey is so expensive?
Several reasons behind such a price. Let’s focus on two of them.
First and foremost, Manūka’s geographical area consistently influences the price, as these
bushes can only be found in a remote area, which is difficult for beekeepers to be reached.
Therefore, helicopters are used to locate beehives in those zones.
Last but not least, the Manūka bush’s flowering time is really strict, as its flowers bloom for
four weeks, within which honeybees need to extract the nectar and transform it into honey.
For further details or to boost curiosity, we recommend two videos:
– Manūka Honey and the importance of the MGO