Manuka magic

Marcus Van Boxel is a bee-keeper. Nothing unusual in that of course, there are hundreds of commercial bee-keepers and hundreds more who keep hives for home use. Where Marcus differs from most is in his methods of production and control.

He doesn't, for instance, use chemicals to control the pervasive Varroa mite. He dowses the bees in icing sugar. True! It doesn't kill the mite but it makes them fall off and as Marcus says, other methods besides chemical control simply have to be found because the bees have developed a significant resistance to chemical compounds.

Neither will he kill the queen - known as re-queening - or clip her wings. He wants his hives to mimic nature as closely as possible.

"You have a beautiful queen so why would you want to destroy her? The bees can determine when the queen needs replacing."

His ethical decisions are a significant unique selling point. He markets his Rawiti Honi products online and at the Kerikeri and Paihia Farmers' Markets.

Marcus Van Boxel's hapu is Ngai Tawake Kite Takutai Moana whose original home base is Rewa's Village, opposite the Stone Store in Kerikeri. He lives in Haruru Falls and, as such, he is a genuine Bay of Islander so we asked him to give us a recipe that uses his manuka honey. Being the generous fellow he is, he gave us two!

The first one is a variation on our famous Antipodean Anzac Biscuits. The second is a natural sleep remedy.

Anzac biscuits with Manuka honey

This is one of my simple, quick bake, recipes that anyone can do. Take the trusty Edmonds Cookery book recipe and replace the golden syrup with Manuka Honey. I love having a couple of these biscuits in a cereal bowl covered in milk. YUMMY!! Makes 20 biscuits.

1/2 cup standard plain flour

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup shredded coconut

3/4 cup rolled oats

50g butter

1 tablespoon Manuka Honey

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons boiling water

Mix together flour, sugar, coconut and rolled oats.

Melt butter and Manuka Honey.

Dissolve baking soda in the boiling water and add to butter and Manuka Honey. Stir butter mixture into the dry ingredients.

Place level tablespoons of mixture onto cold greased trays.

Bake at 180 C for about 15 minutes or until golden.

Rawiti Honi Sweet Dreams

A good sleep remedy before bed:

Warm a cup of milk in a saucepan. Add 1/2 teaspoon of Manuka Honey to the milk. Dissolve the honey into the milk and then add a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Sweet dreams.

www.rawhitimanukahoni.com