raw and natural
KUEK Siew Phey sells raw honey obtained from her family’s bee farm in Kampung Mata Air, Pulai Chondong, Kelantan.
She says once consumers try raw honey, they will never settle for the processed version.
Her family has about 50 hives in their rural home. The bees are of the stingless “kelulut” species.
Most of their customers are from Kelantan although Kuek, who is based in the Klang Valley, sells to people in the city and in other states too.
Her brand, Liku Kelulut Honey, has many repeat orders as customers like that it’s coming from a natural source.
HIVE tO BOttlE
Kuek and her family initially used syringes to extract the honey from from their hives before injecting it into bottles for sale but they have since invested in a simple extraction machine.
“But we don’t add anything to the honey. We keep it in its original form,” she says.
The price for the honey ranges from RM30-RM180 depending on the size of the bottle.
Depending on the season and the type of flowers the bees feast on, there will be differences in the colour and texture of the honey.
Once, a batch of honey was purple as the bees had feasted on roselle flowers.
During the durian season, when the bees eat the nectar from durian flowers, the aroma and texture of the honey will also be different.
Raw honey is always in limited supply because bees do not produce honey all the time. During the rainy season, they hibernate. They are also very sensitive to changes in and around the hive.
naturE’S GIFt
Yeo Hui Ching, who sells raw honey sourced from Pahang under the brand Bumble Honey, says phytonutrients are found in raw honey.
Raw, she stresses, means no artificial additives. What’s available in supermarkets is mostly processed honey, she adds. “Honey in its natural state has enzymes and nutrients but these re destroyed by heat especially uring pasteurisation. Raw oney, on the other hand, etains all those nutrients or maximum health benefits.”
She sells between 100-150 bottles a month with prices ranging from RM7-RM52 depending on bottle size.
Customers are mainly from Malaysia but she also upplies to consumers in Hong Kong and Singapore.