New Zealand bush honey
Warm and rounded with a light caramel base and a faint resinous lift, and considerable variation between regions — generally more approachable than any of its monofloral components.
The multifloral honey of New Zealand native forest, and the everyday counterpart to the monoflorals that dominate the country's export trade. It draws on kamahi, rewarewa, tawari, rata, koromiko and a long tail of native species, and it is what most New Zealand forest apiaries actually produce.
Flavour and aroma
- Aroma
- warm caramel, light resin, forest flowers
- Flavour
- caramel, light resin, soft florals
- Finish
- Medium and warm.
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Sweetness
- Sweet
- Bitterness
- None
- Acidity
- Moderate
Colour, texture and crystallisation
- Colour
- Extra light amber (34-50 mm Pfund)Light amber (50-85 mm Pfund)Amber (85-114 mm Pfund)
Varies with the mix, from pale gold to warm amber.
On setting: Generally sets to a smooth pale cream.
- Texture
- Runny; Soft set; Creamed; Thick but pourable
- Crystallisation
Moderate — granulates over a few months
A moderate fine set, and New Zealand honey is frequently sold creamed.
Typical composition
Not stated by the sources consulted.
What these mean: the sugars and the ratio · moisture · conductivity · how each is measured
Where it comes from
- Floral source
- New Zealand native forest flora — kamahi, rewarewa, tawari, rata, koromiko, manuka, kanuka and many others, varying by region and altitude.
- Origins
- New Zealand, both islands, from native forest and regenerating bush.
- Harvest
- November to March (southern hemisphere)
A long summer season as different forest species flower in succession.
- The bees
- New Zealand has around 28 native bee species and no native social bees. Honey bees arrived in 1839 and bumblebees in the 1880s, and both now work a forest flora that evolved with birds, flies and small solitary bees.
- Usual processing
- Raw, Coarsely strained, Spun (centrifugally extracted), Creamed (seeded and controlled-set)
New Zealand hive numbers rose sharply through the 2010s on the strength of manuka prices and have since fallen back. Forage competition between an inflated colony population and native species remains a live conservation concern.
What to do with it
A good everyday honey and the type most New Zealanders actually eat, as opposed to the manuka that dominates the export figures.
At the tableSpreadingBakingIn hot drinksDesserts
Pairings
- Toast and butter
Straightforward.
- Aged cheeses
Enough caramel to meet a strong cheese.
- Fresh fruit
Unfussy and pleasant.
Pairing pages this honey appears on
Selected by this honey’s own recorded intensity, flavour families and uses rather than by anything written above — each page prints the rule that put it there.
Where this honey sits in the catalogue
History and traditional use
Honey bees were introduced to New Zealand in 1839 by Mary Bumby, and the industry built on native forest for a century and a half before manuka transformed its economics.
Sources
- HoneyHQ editorial synthesis — HEKNO Ltd · HoneyHQ synthesis
How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.
Tools for choosing and using honey
- Honey finder
Which honey should I buy for what I actually want to do with it?
- Flavour selector
I like this taste — which honeys have it?
- Honey comparison
How do these honeys actually differ, beyond colour?
- Honey substitute calculator
How much honey do I use instead of sugar, and what else has to change?
- Storage guide
How should I store honey, and what do I do when it sets?