SWEET IDEA

Taking a ‘slow’ approach to honey making, director of Honey by the Sea, Andres Villegas, has crafted a Mānuka Cold-Smoked Honeycomb. Produced by bees that feed off Mānuka and Pōhutakawa trees on the cliffs around the coastal town of Leigh, it is exposed for 10 hours to a slow cold Mānuka smoke, resulting in a unique sweet and smoky flavour. “I want to share my passion for bees and honey: honey that may come from the same apiary but is different from season to season; honey that is as close as possible to coming straight from the hive; honey that is pure and natural – not blended, not finely strained, raw – with all its goodness preserved,” he says.