With the rise of health-conscious consumers like you and me, the demand for health centric food items is ever on the rise. An interesting item in the list of health-oriented food is Manuka Honey. This is a special type of honey extracted only from New Zealand. There is a reason why this particular type of honey has gained so much popularity recently. Research suggests that this type of honey is great for the skin and digestion. In fact, regular intake of this honey can work as a preventive source for cancer and skin oriented diseases.
But, all Manuka Honey is not equally effective to prevent diseases. The quality of the honey depends on a myriad of factors such as weather, soil and area to name a few. This article about best manuka honey brand is a bit different compared to other review articles. Since this is something that you would be directly eating, we do not want you to take any risk. Hence, in this review we will not only talk about some of the good brands but also how each of them can benefit your health.
We will also try to provide you with a perspective on what factors you should make the choice of Manuka honey since it can directly impact your health. A word of advice, always check for certifications such as UMF, MGO, Kfactor rating and other organic certifications before purchasing the product.
Best Pick
Our best pick from the lot would be the brand ‘New Zealand Honey Co.’ and it possesses MGO concentration of 515. This is of high category concentration and is great for natural development of immune system. The taste is palatable to generic users as well.
Budget Pick
The budget buy would be the brand of ‘Manuka doctor’. It possesses the right medicinal properties for skin, digestion and respiration. For new users, it is better to start with this honey to get used to the unique taste of Manuka honey.
Quick Comparison: Top 16 Best Manuka Honey Brands
1. New Zealand Honey Co. Raw Manuka Honey UMF 15+
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New Zealand Honey Co. is a reliable brand in the field of Manuka honey. To begin with, let’s talk about its sourcing first. As the name suggests, the honey is sourced and packed entirely in New Zealand, the only place that harbors Manuka honey. In fact, you can also trace the exact location from where this brand sources and processes their honey. The good part about this brand is that they have authentic and reliable source to back their claims. This brings us to their certifications. This brand is part of the UMF association, the pioneer association that provides right certifications to Manuka honey brands.
The MGO concentration is 515 which mean it has an equivalent rating of UMF 15+. This means that the product has high concentration of MGO. Having a 15+ UMF rating provides a direct proof that the honey has medicinal properties. This particular brand’s honey possesses healing and anti-inflammatory properties. This is due to the region for where they are sourced. The attributes of manuka honey are subjective to the region from where they are sourced. In terms of therapeutic effect, this honey is suitable for better immune system and digestion. This is essentially true for all Manuka honey with a UMF rating of 15+.
In terms of quality testing, the brand goes through independent lab testing as per the standards of UMF association. Therefore, you can be rest assured that only the good quality honey reaches to you. But yes, the brand does not have standardized storing mechanism; thus the consistency might not be maintained in separate batches. If you are fond of completely organic and naturally sourced products, this brand is a good starting for you. They offer completely naturally sourced honey and try to keep the original flavor intact. You can use them as alternative sweetener in smoothies, drinks, shakes, cereals etc.
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2. MANUKA HEALTH - MGO 400+ Manuka Honey
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If you are looking for a honey brand for regular intake and gain some extra health benefits, the honey offered by the brand MANUKA HEALTH is one of our top choices. Without further to do, let’s talk about its health benefits first. Basically, this particular brand offers a MGO 400+. MGO stands for methylglyoxal. This chemical compound basically possesses inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties that are beneficial to your skin and digestive system. The medicinal benefits that come from Manuka Honey is due to the high concentration of MGO.
Now this particular product is not directly certified by the UMF rating but with the concentration of MGO, we can estimate that this product is equivalent to UMF 12+ which is a pretty decent figure for solving for health issues. This type of concentration is considered the optimum one; not too high or not too low. Therefore, if you want natural healing to your skin and digestive problems, we feel this is the best product in the market.
This honey is sourced 100% from New Zealand; therefore, we can assure you about the authenticity of the product. In fact, it has been featured in Good Morning America for its premium quality. This brand is one of the common myth busters that ‘Food with medicinal benefits cannot be tasty’. This honey has a smooth texture and is actually delicious to the pallet. For regular intake, this is something that you would actually love. You can enjoy this fresh honey directly from the jar or mix it with your favorite shakes and smoothies. You can also eat it with waffles, pancakes, cereals or with every day breakfast.
Moving on to certifications, remember that we warned you to always look for them when it comes to Manuka honey. Luckily with this product, the makers go an extra mile to ensure that the quality is top-notch. The product goes for an independent quality testing before distribution. This testing is done in ISO17025 certified laboratory to make sure that the product delivers exactly what the makers promises to.Pros
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3. Comvita Certified UMF 15+ (MGO 514+) Manuka Honey
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If you have religious preference for buying food products, Comvita Certified UMF 15+ (MGO 514+) Manuka Honey can be a good choice for you. It is Halal, non-GMO and Kosher certified. One of the distinctive factors for this product is that the brand Comvita is part of the UMF Association. Basically for Manuka honey, UMF certification is the most reliable source of certification, in fact one of the pioneers in the sector. Therefore, when it comes to the quality of this brand’s honey, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. We felt that it is one of the finest of our reviewed best manuka honey brands.
Adding to that, when a brand has UMF certification, it implies that you can find the exact location of beehive of New Zealand from where the honey is sourced. Coming to the health benefits of the product, we would say that it is one of the top tiers. Basically, the MGO (Methylglyoxal) is 514+ which is equivalent to UMF 15+. This is a highly concentrated with MGO. Therefore, this honey is great for strong therapeutic effect. As a matter of fact, this level of concentration helps to prevent various types of diseases of skin, digestion and others.
Our recommendation would be if you specifically are facing skin problems or digestive problems, you should choose this product. However, for regular intake of honey, it is better not to take such a high concentrated product. What we mean is, this honey should be taken on alternate days rather than every day due to its high concentration. Everyday intake should only be done if you are already suffering from skin or digestive diseases. We loved how this honey can also be applied directly to your skin as part of skin-care routine.
If we start listing out the benefits of eating this honey, it would probably take us pages. But in brief, we can tell you that this honey is good for digestion, developing better immune system, coughs, sore throat and skin-issues. The honey tastes quite good and can actually be a good substitute to sugar in shakes, smoothies, breakfast items, beverages etc. For health-conscious consumers, this is a good start for your new diet. We would also like to add that the brand has been in the market for over a decade now and is supporting towards sustainability initiatives, tree and bee research programs. That is, the brand believes in giving back to the community.
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4. Happy Valley UMF 18+ Manuka Honey
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In terms of reliability and authenticity, the brand Happy Valley is indeed one of the finest in the market. The honey is sourced from the finest beehives of New Zealand. Yes, the makes claim that and it is actually true! If you don’t believe us, they come with a myriad of certifications to prove their authenticity. For starters, this brand is part of UMF association. Therefore, this means that the sources are reliable and the quality standards met here are of the most superior quality.
In fact, the quality testing for this brand is done independently to ensure nothing harmful reaches out to you. Moving on to the therapeutic impact of the product, we would say that is definitely quite strong. To exact, the MGO rating is 690+ which is equivalent to UMF 18+. This is a very high concentrated product. This type of concentration is used for healing diseases specifically related to skin, inflammation and digestion. Since it is of high concentration, we would advise you to be careful with the amount of intake of this honey.
To be on the safe side, this honey should be taken on alternate days rather than having every day for getting best results. What makes it different from rest of the brand is its superior quality packaging. With other brands, usually the packaging is made from medium to low ranged plastic. With this product, however, the packaging is quite eye-pleasing and safe. The plastic used in the jars is BPA free.
Usually you will find the entire jar completely full and packed for you. Therefore, you would not feel that you are paying more for less. The honey is denser compared to the peer products. So, if you prefer creamy honey over diluted ones, this honey is perfect. But if you do not like dense honey, this product might not be suitable to your pallet.
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5. Tahi Manuka Honey UMF15+
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For all those environment conscious consumers out there, Tahi brand should be your top choice for Manuka Honey. This particular brand is widely known for its organic bee hiving practices. In fact, it is one of the rarest brands that follow eco-friendly and bee-friendly procedures to source the Manuka honey. This practice they term as ‘Ethical bee-keeping’. Basically, they do not use harmful chemicals to cultivate more honey. They allow the bees to roam around in their natural habitat.
The brand even works for more than 60 endangered species of birds to give back to the community. That is something highly commendable. Other than being ethical, the brand offers you with a lot starting from health benefits to great taste. If you prefer organic products, this product is completely raw and unpasteurized. This goes through minimal filtration process to provide you with a completely natural product. Being eco-friendly and completely natural are the two factors that provide competitive advantage to the brand.
Coming to the generic attributes of the brand, it provides healing and preventing features. The UMF rating is 15+ which implies a high concentration of MGO. This high concentration is ideal for preventing skin issues, inflammatory problems and digestive problems. It is also beneficial for developing human immune system. It is also a licensed brand of the UMF association.
Therefore, we don’t think you have to worry about its authenticity and reliability. However, we would suggest eating this honey on alternate days due to its high MGO concentration. In terms of taste, the texture is less creamy and a bit dilute compared to quintessential manuka honey. It is a bit sweet compared to its peer products and that adds as an added benefit for some consumers. But this type of honey is preferred by many taste pallets.
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6. Manuka Doctor Bio Active Honey
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The brand Manuka Doctor is a medium ranged manuka honey in our opinion. This product too comes with a lot of certifications. However, the major problem lies with the fact that it is not part of UMF association. Still it is not a bad brand since it does have healthy features for you. To begin with, let’s talk about the fact that it possesses a 24+ bio active rating. This attribute is a great feature for honey in general, not necessarily for manuka honey. This rating basically implies that the peroxide activity is high in this product.
Peroxide activity is good for body metabolism that in turn impact good skin and digestive mechanism. We would like to warn you about one important factor. You will find marketers or advertisers constantly labeling the product as ‘Bio-active’. Understand that this is often a marketing scheme because there is no direct relationship of being ‘bio-active’ with manuka honey. Usually high peroxide activity is prevalent in any good quality honey. Therefore, this label does suggest that it is good for your health and is a good quality honey but not specifically the authenticity of Manuka honey.
Having said so, the honey is sourced 100 percent from New Zealand. This information is true and thus we believed about the authenticity of Manuka Doctor Brand offering actual Manuka honey. Nonetheless, this product does possess anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-bacterial properties. Despite not being licensed Manuka honey brand, it does follow strict standards with its quality testing. This brand also goes through a rigorous process of standardizing the pollen and peroxides in the honey.
We loved this feature about the product. We also loved the taste of this honey. It can be taken with various food items as a substitute of sugar. The texture is quite thick and any sweet-tooth would love the taste. We would recommend refrigerating the honey during warm weather otherwise; the thick texture gets ruined with weather.
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7. Wild Cape UMF 15+ Manuka Honey
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The brand Wild Cape is one of our favorite Manuka honey brands for its exclusive taste. This taste is there due to sourcing them from the East Cape region in New Zealand. The taste, texture and quality of Manuka honey depends a lot on the weather, soil and area. Manuka honey sourced from the mentioned region is actually mild and goes well with generic palate. From our perspective, for this brand the distinctive factor is its unique taste. This brand is a trusted one and offers authentic Manuka honey.
Why? That is because this brand is part of the UMF association. Therefore, when it comes to quality, reliability and authenticity of the product, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. The product is rated UMF 15+. This means that the concentration of MGO is high in this honey which is a good thing of course. The honey possesses all the positive health benefits that usual Manuka honey offers.
Some more positives about the product would be its nice packaging. We personally loved the designing label of the jar. But there are important factors to consider as well. The jars used are made from high quality BPA free plastic. This is another rare Manuka honey brand that believes in ethical bee hiving practice. When they source the honey, they don’t try to harm the bees rather let them be in their natural habitat.
Therefore, environment lovers can pick this brand for this attribute as well. One problem we found with the product is that some users actually prefer the acrid taste of manuka honey which this brand does not possess. Basically to some users, strong taste is preferred over mild one.
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8. Manuka Honey Active UMF 20 MGO 901 (By Natural Solutions)
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The brand Natural Solutions is a great pick for you if you want authentic and durable Manuka honey. We put this in our list of best manuka honey brand review due to its unique storage option. With other brands, the taste becomes different due to shipping hazards and other issues. In fact, the potency of Manuka honey is also adversely impact for wrong storing mechanism. What we loved about the product is that this brand stores the honey in their designated ‘honey rooms’ before shipping to the customers.
These honey rooms maintain a tentative temperature suitable to keep the Manuka honey intact. From our perspective, this is the competitive edge of Natural Solutions brand. This brand is a licensed brand and part of the UMF association. This association provides certification for the authenticity of Manuka honey. Other than this, UMF association also performs independent quality and purity testing for this brand. Therefore, you should not have any doubt with the overall great quality of this Manuka Honey.
Another interesting factor about this brand’s manuka honey is that it is sourced from Te Araroa trail in New Zealand. The manuka honey of that region has a different taste and some users absolutely love that. The honey has a MGO 901 which has an equivalent UMF rating of 20+. This means that it offers high medicinal benefits due to the high concentration of MGO present. One drawback is the capacity of the jars used. This honey is sold in small quantity and this can be inconvenient to some users.
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9. Bee's Inn Manuka Honey UMF 10+
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One of the most authentic brands of Manuka honey is Bee’s Inn. They specialize in pure honey sourcing. In fact, this brand entails an expert group of bee keepers in New Zealand. Bee’s Inn brand has licensed UMF rating and thus you have nothing to worry about the authenticity of the product. Having a legal UMF rating also implies that you can trace the honey source all the way back to New Zealand. Coming to the quality check of this brand, we loved the rigorous and comprehensive approach that they take.
Each batch of honey is separately tested in terms of quality, authenticity and then finally licensed. Therefore, it ensures that you get the best possible Manuka honey. This version of the honey has a rating of UMF 10+. This has medium level of MGO in the honey. Therefore, it implies that you will have medium level of therapeutic impact with the intake of this honey. We honestly love medium concentrated Manuka honey. That is because this type of honey is safe for consumption on a regular basis and it naturally develops your immune system in a better way.
For maintaining a healthy diet, we would definitely recommend having this honey regularly with your everyday breakfast. You can also use it as a substitute to sugar because of its mild sweet taste. What we personally loved about this product is the various versions of concentration that the brand offers. Basically, other than UMF 10+ version, you will also find two other versions of 5+ UMF and 15+ UMF. That is, for both mild and strong MGO concentration preferences, the brand has something to offer.
If you love organic products with no added preservatives, this brand will surely win your heart since this is completely raw honey. One drawback would be since the honey is not filtered, you might need a little time to get accustomed to its unique taste. The packaging is quite eye-pleasing and entails all the necessary nutrient information in detail. But the jar is made from plastic unfortunately.
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10. Manukora UMF 20+ (MGO 830+) Manuka Honey
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If you are looking for high concentration of MGO from a reliable and trusted source, we would say to look no further. The brand Manukora is an authentic and licensed provider of Manuka honey. The honey is sourced from few regions of New Zealand and after going through independent quality testing, it is shipped to the customers. One good thing about the brand is that it delivers what it promises and tries its best not to inflate the product attributes. Manukora is part of UMF association and is a reliable and authentic brand of course.
It has a UMF rating of 20+; this implies that the concentration of MGO is very high in this honey. This is honey should be taken for its medicinal benefits mainly. It can heal and prevent myriads of skin issues starting from acne to wrinkling. It also possesses inflammatory properties that help in better digestion. Since it is very high concentrated product, we would recommend consuming it on alternate days rather than every day. This honey is not completely raw but goes through minimal filtration and processing.
This mild processing gives the honey the right texture you need. We liked the creamy texture and flavor of this particular manuka honey. But we can’t guarantee that you will like the taste as well since the matter is subjective. It comes in a plastic jar and the packaging is actually not so premium although from the outside it looks like one. Another problem we found in the product is small bits of grainy texture. This grain like texture is not suitable to many palates. Nonetheless, it offers the highest health benefits due to its high UMF rating.
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11. Wedderspoon 100% Raw Manuka Honey
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If you have heard about the Manuka honey from friends and peers, you must have encountered with the brand name ‘Wedderspoon’. Despite some of its drawbacks, this brand surely knows how to market itself to the consumers. This is one the popular ones in the market due to its taste, texture and health benefits. The honey is naturally sourced from New Zealand. But the problem is there is no direct authentication of tracing back the source. It does provide a good certification recognized by the New Zealand government.
They are certified with KFactor 16. This is a certification used by the brand to demonstrate the superior quality of the honey supplied by them. KFactor shows a scale of pollen amount in the honey. Now high pollen content is good for any honey and possesses medicinal benefits for you. It useful to solve cough and cold and it can be used as a healthy alternative sweetener. But the problem is it does not necessarily prove that it is a good Manuka honey. Yes, the honey provided by Wedderspoon is superior quality honey but we are still not sure if they are sourced from the pollens of Manuka plant.
One of the reasons we chose this brand in our list of best manuka honey brand reviews is to clarify the notion of Kfactor to you. You need to understand that Wedderspoon is a good quality honey and possess various medicinal benefits. It comes with proven Kfactor 16 certification to show that it has high pollen content. But it does not necessarily mean this is actual Manuka honey. Nonetheless, we liked the overall packaging and taste of the honey. You can use it for regular consumption since the makers did not disclose the MGO concentration; it therefore implies that it is there in mild quantity.Pros
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12. Airborne (New Zealand) Manuka Honey
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If you like honey and require it for family consumption, you might want to consider the brand Airborne. The factor of distinction for this honey is that it is sold at a higher capacity compared to its peer brands. To be exact, you will find this honey sold in 17oz. jars. This is quite convenient for users as you don’t need to order honey again and again. This quantity is ideal for family consumption. The brand has been in the market for decades now. Therefore, you can rest assured that this is a good brand for honey.
Coming to other factors, the manufacturers claim that it can be sourced all the way from New Zealand and the sourcing can be traced to the exact region. However, they do not have UMF certification to prove that. One thing we can assure you is that Airborne creates good quality honey for you but we are not sure if this is authentic Manuka honey. To check the pollen count and the quality of the product, the batches of honey are independently lab tested. This is something that we liked of the brand.
They make sure that only good quality and pollen honey reaches to you. This honey is raw and mildly processed which is also a plus factor. The makers also claim it to be ‘herbal honey’ due to its high pollen content. We have users confirmed that regular consumption of this honey is good for the digestive system and for the skin. Therefore, for regular family consumption we see no harm in buying this honey. This honey is suitable for health conscious consumers who are switching to low sugar diets since this can be used as an alternative sweetener.
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13. Manuka Honey 500g UMF 20+ (By API Health)
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API health brand offers Manuka honey with high concentration of MGO. If you are looking to gain health benefits from consumption of honey, this is one of the suitable brands for you. This brand is part of the UMF association. Therefore, this brand offers pure and premium quality manuka honey. Now we are not just giving out random statements to you. This brand comes with legal UMF certification to prove their worth to the customers. It has a UMF rating of 20+.
This rating means that the concentration of MGO (Methylglyoxal) is very high in this honey. This level of MGO concentration provides the maximum health benefits for the consumers. MGO possess strong anti-bacterial properties that are beneficial to your health particularly for the skin and digestive system. You can easily infer from this that this brand offers one of the premium quality honeys in the field of medicinal benefits.
Coming to the quality testing measures, each batch of honey produced goes through an independent quality testing in reputed laboratories. The manufacturers make sure that only the good products reach to their customers. That is something commendable on their part. The brand even publishes their lab results to ensure complete transparency for their customers. Although this is a high concentrated product, you can safely consumer this day once or twice per day.
We loved the unique texture and flavor that it provides. It is not too mild, not too strong rather the optimum density. It goes well with pancakes, shakes, smoothies and cereals. We thought of it as a great alternative sweetener for your everyday meals. Our take on the product would be it is great for those who want to start a healthy diet with low sugar and gain other health benefits naturally.
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14. Manuka Honey MGO 820+ (By Good Natured)
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This is a brand from Australia but they offer Manuka honey with MGO 820+. This is quite a high concentration and possesses an equivalent UMF rating of 20. However, they are not part of the UMF association, unfortunately. Therefore, they do not have certification to back their claims. The good part is they provide the actual lab test results which are performed independently. They try to maintain the utmost transparency to prove that the honey that goes to you is of good quality.
The laboratories where the batches of honey are tested are accredited by the New Zealand government. Therefore, you have nothing to worry about the superior quality of the honey provided to you. Other than transparent quality testing methods and medicinal benefits, there are few more attributes that makes Good Natured brand a great one. This is completely raw honey for starters. The next positive aspect of the brand is that they go for ethical bee-hiving. Organic and natural procedures are used to source the honey and the bees are not provided with any harmful chemicals in the process.
This is something rare to find among brands. For ecology conscious consumers, this is a big yes to the brand. In terms of medicinal benefits of the products, we were amazed at the innovative processing mechanism followed by the brand. This is probably the factor that compelled us to put this brand in our list of best manuka honey brands. Basically, the manufacturers follow a unique ‘cold extraction method’ to sustain the maximum anti-bacterial properties of the honey. We would say if only the product had been UMF certified this would have been absolutely perfect brand. This is the only drawback that we found in the product through our research.
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15. Three Peaks Manuka Honey
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The brand three peaks comes up with mild concentrated manuka honey for you for regular consumption. It does not provide the quintessential acrid manuka honey taste but is made more palatable for regular intake with normal food items. This honey works great as an alternative sweetener and we loved the unique taste of this honey. This is probably due to the region of New Zealand from where this honey is sourced. You might want to differ in terms of taste since the matter is subject.
Moving on to other attributes, let’s talk about its authenticity and purity. This brand has the UMF certification; the most authentic certification when it comes to manuka honey. The quality and concentration is tested independently in the laboratories. It is indeed a reliable and authentic brand that provides manuka honey for you. The honey is sourced naturally from North Island of New Zealand; the only hub for manuka plants. The UMF rating of this product is 10+. This means that the concentration of MGO is less in the product. However, it does not necessarily imply that this is bad honey.
Even this rating of UMF implies that the honey entails mild therapeutic effects. In fact, this sort of concentration is great for regular consumption and long term healing. Sometimes high MGO content ruins the taste of manuka honey. Therefore, low concentrated MGO manuka honey is preferred by a lot of regular honey consumers. Basically with this concentration, you get to enjoy a flavorful honey and gain moderate medicinal benefits of manuka honey. To be exact, this honey is beneficial to the respiratory and digestive system.
The gold foiled packaging looks great from the exterior but it does use plastic jars. This is a turndown for us. The good part about the containers is that they have the capacity of 17.6oz. This is a high capacity jar for keeping honey and thus makes it an ideal choice for family consumption.
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16. Steens Manuka Honey UMF 15 (MGO 514)
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The brand Steens has an interesting approach to provide transparency to its customers. Basically with manuka honey, the source is of vital importance. The source shows whether the honey is actually authentic manuka honey or not. To ensure to the customers that this brand provides authentic manuka honey, they provide a unique code in their labels. This label traces back to the place where the honey was actually sourced. This is quite an approach to provide authenticity. We were amazed at this unique label on the packaging.
But the big problem here is it does not have UMF certification. The MGO concentration claimed by the brand is 514 which mean it should be equivalent to UMF 15. Again, since the product is not UMF certified, we cannot be sure about authenticity. One thing we have no doubt is the quality of honey. It is indeed good quality honey in various aspects. First of all, the honey is raw and completely unpasteurized. It uses cold-pressed mechanism to ensure that the anti-bacterial properties of Manuka honey are sustained.
It goes through a minimal filtering process to keep the amino acid and other beneficial nutrients intact in the honey. Coming to the medicinal benefits, since it should have a UMF rating of 15, the therapeutic effects are supposed to be moderate. To be exact, the honey is suitable for healing digestive and respiratory issues in the long run. It is basically a natural process to gain health benefits. It can be a start of a healthy diet routine as well if you replace sugar with this honey. The taste of this honey from our perspective is satisfactory but we felt it could’ve been much better.
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Things to Consider Before Purchasing Manuka Honey
Certification
Understand that manuka honey is something that you would be directly consuming regularly. Hence, the authenticity of the brand is very important. That is, whether it is genuine manuka honey or not or at the very least, whether it is a good quality honey or not. To assess that whether the honey is of good quality, you look through certifications and honey specific ratings. When it comes to Manuka honey, the only authentic certification is being part of UMF association and having a legal UMF rating. If a brand does not have UMF certification, it does not prove that that the brand offers authentic Manuka honey.
UMF association is actually the only platform that provides Manuka honey authentication and works for quality testing measures as well. In fact, you can also trace back the exact region of the honey from where it was sourced if the brand has UMF certification. However, there are other ratings provided as well which we will be discussing in the next section. It is wiser to go for brands that possess UMF certification but there are few good brands with great attributes that offer superior quality honey despite not having the UMF certification. In short, you should go for brands that are reliable and have been in the market for a long time.
MGO concentration
Next thing you should check is the MGO concentration of the Manuka honey. The reason why manuka honey is so special is due to the presence of an organic compound Methylglyoxal (MGO) in the honey. This MGO is responsible for most of the medicinal benefits of the honey. It is great for skin, respiratory system and digestive system. Basically, you will find brands that tell you the MGO concentration. It is better to check the UMF rating as well to understand the MGO concentration. The chart below demonstrates the direct relevance of UMF with MGO rating.
UMF rating | MGO concentration range |
UMF 5+ | 83-100 |
UMF 10+ | 263 |
UMF 12+ | 354-400 |
UMF 15+ | 514-550 |
UMF 18+ | 692 |
UMF 20+ | 829 |
When there is a high MGO concentration, it means that the therapeutic effects are also higher. Usually the UMF rating from 5+ to 10+ is the mildest concentrations. This sort of concentration is great for regular intake multiple times of the day. Therefore, for low sugar diet, this is the concentration that you should go for. Next, the range from 12+ to 15+ is of medium concentration of MGO. This is good for natural therapeutic impact. Basically in this range of concentration, you will be able to see natural healing of your skin, digestion and respiration. With long term use, your immune system will develop as well. They work great as substitute to sugar as well. The highest concentration of MGO is present in the ratings of 18+ to 20+. The brands can offer this as the maximum concentration when they source manuka honey. But with high concentration of MGO, it is better to go to consume the honey on alternate days.
Quality testing
As mentioned before, you are consuming the honey directly and quality testing is one of the top priorities here. Make sure that the brand you choose goes through a rigorous quality check before being shipped to you. It is always better if each batch of honey is separately and independently quality tested in accredited laboratories. Usually for UMF certified brands, they have to follow strict ordinance regarding quality checking. But with non UMF brands, you must see the product description to see whether they go through independent quality testing or not. There are also few brands which are not UMF certified but they publish the lab test results to maintain transparency. Those brands are reliable as well.
Sourcing and processing
Since we are talking about authentic manuka honey here, sourcing and processing techniques are vital. Manuka honey is sourced only from New Zealand. But there is a catch to it. Each region of New Zealand has a specific significance. The taste and quality depends highly on the weather conditions of that region. In terms of processing, always go for the raw, un-pasteurized honey. This type of honey possesses the maximum nutritional benefits. It is better to get the ones that go through minimum filtration process to keep the nutrients intact. But if you are not a fan of acrid taste, you might want to choose the one with more filtration, that’s because raw honey might not be that palatable. Check if the manuka honey is processed in the cold extraction method that is always a great choice to go.
Ethical bee keeping methods
This factor is important for ecologically conscious consumers and extra health conscious ones. There are many brands that do not feed the bees any artificial chemicals. They go for completely natural harvesting. Organic harvesting mechanism helps to retain the most nutritional benefits of manuka honey.
Terminologies
There are two important terminologies that the advertisers use that you should be well aware of. The first one is Kfactor rating. Kfactor rating basically shows the potency and pollen grain content in the honey. This does not necessarily prove that the honey is Manuka honey. But it does prove that high Kfactor rating means that the honey is of good quality. There is another term called ‘bio-active’. This term also shows that the honey is good quality honey but it does not mean that it is authentic manuka honey.
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