Ka¯nuka set to be ‘next big honey’
Hannah and Rory O’Brien run a thriving, sustainable honey business in Raglan, Waikato. Melenie Parkes reports.
For many people, discovering you have a lifethreatening allergy to your new business might give rise to panic. But Hannah and Rory O’Brien were unfazed when they learnt that Hannah was allergic to bees just a few weeks after they bought their first hive.
‘‘I hadn’t been stung since I was a kid. So yeah, it was a bit of a surprise. A bit of a curveball,’’ she says.
But O’Brien can see the humour in being a beekeeper allergic to bees – especially now that it transpires her allergy manifests only during pregnancy.
‘‘It makes a good story,’’ she laughs.
The couple have never been afraid of a challenge. They were contract milking when they first decided to try their hand at something different and give beekeeping a go.
‘‘We really liked dairy farming,’’ says O’Brien, ‘‘but we just kind of decided that long term, the pathway into farm ownership was probably going to be a bit out of our reach.’’
And after seven years in the milkshed they had ‘‘just kind of done enough of it’’.
‘‘I was teaching so I always had my teaching to fall back on.’’
For the O’Briens, who are based in Raglan, ensuring that Hunt & Gather Bee
Co is as sustainable as possible is crucial. From the construction of their hives to the packaging, the couple put a lot of thought into running a business that has the lowest possible impact on the environment.
‘‘Inside our hives is all wood and wax whereas most people these days are just buying plastic frames and everything for inside their hives.’’
O’Brien says it’s more expensive and ‘‘hugely labour intensive’’ to work in this way but the benefits for the bees and the environment far outweigh the cost.
‘‘We have to build everything whereas you can
just buy entire hives and frames made from plastic ready to go.
‘‘It is better for the bees, they much prefer building on wood and wax than plastic. At the end of its lifespan it’s half compostable, half recyclable with the wood and wax. The plastic frames aren’t even recyclable so they’re just landfill.
‘‘Our packaging is all glass and paper labels – as sustainable as we can get it. And we take back our jars and we can refill them as well.’’
The couple produce a range of honeys that can be bought online – including ka¯ nuka – a close relation to ma¯ nuka.
‘‘Ka¯ nuka has some of the chemical markers of ma¯ nuka but not all of them. So they are similar,
We’re pleased to offer this extra television coverage – courtesy of our sister publication The TV Guide – while it is unable to publish under current restrictions. but ka¯ nuka has some properties of its own that ma¯ nuka doesn’t have.’’
O’Brien says while the two honeys share some commonalities, ka¯ nuka has a ‘‘really different flavour profile’’ to its more famous cousin.
‘‘They’re finding different uses for it, they’re using it for a lot of skin conditions, like cold sores.’’
She says the merits of ka¯ nuka are still being researched but it could be the next locally produced product that attracts international interest.
‘‘I think ka¯ nuka’s going to be the next big, big honey.’’
Country Calendar, TVNZ 1, Sunday