Bees make honey. Bees are social insects, related to wasps and ants. In doing what comes naturally to them bees provide us with honey, beeswax, pollen and royal jelly. Honey has been found to have medicinal qualities, particularly when applied topically to burns, wounds, and ulcers.
Research has shown that people who eat honey have higher levels of polyphenols in their blood indicating that honey has antioxidant properties.
The flavour of honey will vary depending on the plant species the bees have visited. Honey is often labelled according to the predominant plant species in the surrounding area of the hives. Choose a flavour you like most.
Organic honey is regulated by a strict set of guidelines that covers not only the origin of the bees but also the siting of the apiaries. Standards for organic honey differ from country to country with differences based on cultural, topographic, climatic and geographic factors. Australia’s beekeeping is a highly migratory set-up, whereas many others including Europe are sedentary. One of the major differences in the organic standards for Australian honey and other countries is a result of the nature and distribution of flora suitable for honey. Australia has the capacity to restrict flora for organic beekeeping to only wild native (or exotic) vegetation or vegetation grown in accordance with the organic standards. In contrast, some other countries, such as those in Europe allow some species to be non organic.
Australian beekeepers also have the advantage over European and US beekeepers in not needing to feed bees sugar for extended periods in winter. Australian beekeepers use very little supplemental feeding and use organic sugar, making their organic honey production stricter.
Organic bee and hive health management strategies can include the use of lactic, oxalic, acetic acid, formic acid, sulphur, and natural etheric oils such as menthol, and eucalyptus for pest and disease control.
Processing of honey must also adhere to strict organic standards.