What Is Manuka Honey And Does It Really Work?

Whenever you have been a child the one honey you knew of was the squeezie one you’d drizzle on sandwiches, breakfast and straight in your mouth.

Today, although, we’re obsessing over new (and costly) sorts of honey like uncooked honey, rooftop honey and the most well-liked, manuka honey.

Manuka honey is touted as a superfood ‘healer’ which may deal with wounds, chilly and flu, sore throats and extra. However how actual are these claims, actually?

First let’s check out what manuka honey actually is, and the way it differs from different sorts of honey.

What’s manuka honey?

“Manuka honey is solely honey derived from the bees that feed on the manuka plant, that are present in New Zealand,” Anna Debenham, accredited practising dietitian of The Biting Truth, advised HuffPost Australia.”

In Australia, the timber used to make manuka honey are Jellybush and Golden Tea Tree.

Professor Peter Molan of Waikato College in New Zealand was the first to report the bizarre exercise of manuka honey, and commenced testing its motion towards a variety of various bacterial species within the mid 1980s.

“Manuka honey normally has a Distinctive Manuka Issue (UMF) ranking on the package deal which implies it has been examined for antibacterial exercise,” Parker mentioned. “That is just like the SPF quantity you’d see on sunscreens — the upper the UMF the higher the antibacterial results.”

A honey bee on the manuka flower accumulating pollen and nectar.

What is the distinction between manuka honey, uncooked honey and common honey?

Common or industrial honey is pasteurised (heated to excessive temperatures) and filtered to kill any yeast that could be current with a purpose to forestall fermentation. Common honey is clean and uniform in color.

“Uncooked honey is honey in its pure state, that means it has not been strained, filtered or heated. It may be comprised of any sort of flower or plant, together with manuka,” Debenham mentioned. “The minimal processing of uncooked honey is usually why it consists of particles of wax, propolis and pollen.”

As acknowledged above, manuka honey is honey sourced solely from the manuka plant and comprises completely different UMF scores relying on the product.

“In comparison with common honey, manuka honey seems darker and thicker and is tougher to unfold.”