Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How can Healing Honey be organic? Don't the bees fly anywhere they want to?
A: We go to great lengths to produce our 100% certified organic manuka honey. The range of bees is about two to three miles from their hives in any direction. Our hives are intentionally located within a pristine nature preserve in New Zealand, more than 25 miles from even the closest road, house, or human activity, and far from any possible contamination that would compromise the quality of the honey. Each of our hives is visited by organic inspectors and is verified to be certified organic. To ensure our honey is pure, after every harvest, Healing Honey is meticulously tested to verify that it is free of over 160 possible chemical residues.
Any honey that isn't certified organic is highly suspect for a large number of chemicals. Many people spray flowers with chemicals, and wildflowers often grow in areas that have previously been contaminated by toxic chemicals. When the bees take nectar out of the contaminated flowers, they end up bringing those toxic chemicals into the hive.
Q: What does "active 15+" mean?
A: Active manuka honey has valuable antibacterial components that account for the more than 100-fold difference in potency over regular honey. Because not all manuka honey has these components, or is "active," the manuka honey intended for therapeutic use is tested according to the methodology established by the University of Waikato in New Zealand to determine the level of active antibacterial components it contains. Phenol (also known as carbolic acid) is the accepted reference chemical in evaluating antiseptics and disinfectants in laboratory testing. In other words, our Manuka honey is compared to carbolic acid to determine how antiseptic it is. The antibacterial components are then designated a numerical rating that is based on this comparison. An active manuka honey such as ours, labeled 15+, provides the same antiseptic properties as a 15% phenol solution.
Q: Why doesn't Healing Honey have the UMF designation?
A: The UMF designation is strictly a for-profit marketing tool, and is not an independent verification system that is accepted by authorized laboratories. Synergy exclusively uses the most-respected independent test method, which was developed at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, for testing all of our Manuka Honey for its activity – this is the only testing method that is verifiable.
Q: What is the shelf life of Healing Honey? I noticed the product does not have an expiration date on it.
A: Honey is the only food on the planet that will never spoil, so it has an indefinite shelf life – scientists have found honey in the Egyptian pyramids that is over 2,000 years old! Even at this ripe age, this ancient honey was found to be completely nutritionally and enzymatically intact. Honey will crystallize as it ages, but this does not affect the properties of the honey in any way. You can rest assured that if you order a large quantity of our Healing Honey, it will be good for however long it takes you to use it up!
Q: Can Healing Honey be used like a regular honey, on a daily basis, or should it be reserved for special occasions?
A: Although the active ingredients in Healing Honey have been researched for their valuable healing properties, it is a food, not a medicine, and is meant to be enjoyed at any time and used in any way that appeals to you. Just keep in mind that it's better to wait until a hot drink is somewhat cooled before putting the honey in, to preserve the enzymatic properties.
Q: Can I give Healing Honey to my child?
A: Pediatricians recommend that parents not give honey to children under 12 months because their digestive tract and organ systems are not fully developed. This recommendation is also true for many other foods. However, children older than one year can benefit greatly from consuming Healing Honey. In fact, due to Healing Honey's natural antimicrobial effects, it has been shown to be more effective in relieving kids' coughs than over-the-counter medicines. In addition, Healing Honey is an amazing restorative agent for the skin and can be applied to scrapes, cuts, burns and insect bites with very positive results.
Q: Are the bees that make Healing Honey allowed to eat their own honey for nourishment? Many bee companies feed the bees with sugar water when the honey is taken from the hive.
A: Our organic honeybees are nourished and supported exactly as if they were in the wild, and they live their natural life cycle precisely as nature intended. Unlike conventional beekeepers, we do not kill our bees at the end of the season, we do not artificially inseminate the queen, and we do not feed the bees sugar water. Our hives are placed in remote and pristine nature preserves, where the bees follow their instinctive foraging habits and feast on wild manuka blossoms. Just as their external environment is pure and uncontaminated, so is their internal environment. No chemicals or drugs are ever used in or near the hives, in the materials used to construct the hives or at any point in the extraction and packaging process. The active manuka honey is simply and gently extracted and poured, unheated and raw, into glass jars, thus preserving the honey's vital live enzymatic constituents.
Q: How might one use your Healing Honey for wound healing?
A: There has been a great deal of research done on the healing properties of the active ingredient in Healing Honey, and although we cannot provide a specific therapeutic protocol, we can let you know about the findings of the research. The research shows that there are inherent antiseptic properties in raw 15+ manuka honey. This honey has been quite successful in treating wounds when it has been spread onto a sterile dressing and applied to a wound three times daily. For smaller abrasions or sores, researchers have put the 15+ manuka honey directly on the injury and covered it with a bandage. Active manuka honey is used in the hospital burn wards in New Zealand because of its immense healing properties as well as its ability to lessen the pain from severe burns.
