From our hive to your table…

Bees are fascinating creatures! Not only do they play a vital role in our eco system, they also provide us with honey.

Honey is one of the only complete life sustaining foods in the world. It is also the only food eaten by humans that is produced by insects. So next time you smear it on your toast spare a thought for the bees. Just one twelth of a teaspoon of honey is the sum total of one bees life work. Luckily for us each hive is home to nearly 50 000 bees.

What is really interesting is that bees are not born knowing how to make honey but are taught by the older bees. The knowledge of honey making is also being passed down the generations at Sweetree, a family run business based in the Waikato who produce the gorgeous Sweetree honeys, bee pollen and wax.

In 2003, when the family moved to a lifestyle block in Horsham Downs Martins hobby turned into a small business. The Lynchs now have around 100 hives which produce 3-4 tonnes of honey and up to 400kgs of Bee pollen a year.

More about Sweetree honey…

Honey is more than a sweet spread for your toast. For centuries honey has been a food revered for its healing properties and health benefits.

Unfortunately it is these great health benefits that are lost in most in commercial honeys due to over- heating and processing. Liquid honey is heated to such a high temperature that all the goodness is cooked out of it.

Sweetree honey is never heated over 40 degree C, or in other words any higher than would naturally occur in the beehive. Keeping the honey “raw” ensures all the amylases, the enzymes that digest carbohydrates as well as all the nutrients found in plant pollens remain intake.

The other great thing about Sweetree Honey is that their honeys display the great variation of flavour and colour derived from the specific apiary the honey is from. Instead of combining all their honey from the 100 hives to create one homogenous blend the Lynchs bottle each distinct variety creating several diverse honeys. Martin explains that “each apiary location has its own special nuance and character and this is reflected in the honey when you come to taste it.”

Sweetrees ‘Vitality Bee Pollen’ is collected from their property in Horsham Downs and is an incredible natural source of nutrients, vitamins and minerals.  Bee pollen is known as natures best superfood.  Just some of the reported benefits of Vitality Bee Pollen are: sustained energy, enhanced immunity, reduced stress, relief of inflammation, more rested sleep and better skin condition.