It’s another first for our brilliant little country this week! As honey fans (we’ve got some historic bee-boles in the Oakeley Arms garden…read more about that here), we were excited to hear that scientists at Cardiff University have discovered a honey that comes from Gwynedd bees that could be as powerful and as potent as the famed Manuka Honey of New Zealand!

Manuka honey comes from bees that feast on the blossom of the manuka tree, and it’s uniquely renowned for it’s antibacterial properties. It not only tastes delicious but claims to help with a huge range of health problems, such as acid reflux, acne, ezcema, MRSA, wound healing and IBS, and it has four times the nutritional content of ordinary honey.

During a study of 250 different honeys from hives across Wales, the scientists from Cardiff University think they may have discovered a Welsh equivalent to the fantastic Manuka honey. The honey from bees at a hive in Tywyn, just down the road from us here at the Oakeley Arms, was found to be as potent and as powerful as Manuka honey – which is thought to be unique.

But, of course, we should have known that our brilliant Welsh bees, who nibble all day on our beautiful Welsh flowers will produce some of the best honey in the world! Now, the scientists are looking into ways to make the super-honey commercially viable so that it can be used to help fight some of the world’s bugs and illnesses. Come on Welsh bees!

We’ll say honey to that!

Image by Andrei Ghergar on freeimages.com