It’s a wild search for the best manuka honey!
Yes, people are falling head over honey jar for this delicious, natural, and nourishing type of honey. Due to its incomparable taste, recipe-ready texture, and well-researched health benefits, it’s one of the most sought-after superfoods in the world.
While a teaspoon of manuka can feel like a decadent treat, people all over the globe use this honey for medicinal purposes and natural healing.
Read on to find reviews of the best manuka honey brands available on the market.
Our recommendations for Best Manuka Honey:
- Best Overall: New Zealand Honey Co. Manuka Honey UMF 15+
- Best Organic Manuka Honey: Wedderspoon Organic Manuka Honey
- Premium Choice: New Zealand Honey Co. Manuka Honey UMF 24+
- Budget Pick: Manukora Multifloral Manuka Honey
- Delicious Taste: Comvita UMF 10+ Manuka Honey
- Great for Therapeutic Use: Good Natured Manuka Honey
First, let’s begin by learning the origins, health benefits, and characteristics of this living food to know how to make a good choice.
What Makes Manuka Honey Famous?
A thick and rich honey, manuka is the “fruit” of the beautiful, pink-flowering manuka bush. The honey is created by bees that only pollinate in very precise environments.
The craze for manuka extends far beyond the fact that this particular honey is so exotic and delicious. Manuka is the only honey to contain active compounds that generate healing both within the body and on the skin.
This is the cell-friendly honey that fits as naturally in your kitchen pantry as it does in a medicine cabinet.
Nature’s homegrown gift for the “sweet tooth” that only very distinct ecological settings can produce, manuka honey is known for its antibacterial properties and many health benefits.
Here is a great video that explains why manuka honey is so valuable:
The Health Benefits of Manuka Honey
Commonly used in folk medicine, manuka honey is getting attention from modern-day researchers for its potent ability to activate the body’s natural healing abilities.
Some of the science-backed health benefits of manuka honey include:
Antibacterial Properties: As mentioned above, manuka honey has natural antibacterial properties. In studies, it has even demonstrated an ability to efficiently inhibit influenza virus replication.
Alternative to Antibiotics: For those seeking holistic wellness, researchers have confirmed that the higher phenolic and methylglyoxal contents found in manuka honey compared to non-manuka honey make it a “natural and safe antibiotic.”
Enhanced Wound Healing: According to one study, manuka honey can enhance wound healing and tissue regeneration by its immunomodulatory property.
Gum Disease Prevention: Manuka has been shown to help treat gingivitis and periodontal disease.
Sore Throat Treatment: Manuka honey is used to treat sore throats (Streptococcus pyogenes). This makes it a perfect companion to a cup of tea if you like medicine that goes down easy!
Acne Help: Many beauty brands use manuka honey in facial scrubs and cleansers. It’s also easy to make homemade manuka skin products.
Relief for Sinus Infections: Manuka is commonly used to reduce sinus inflammation.
Best Manuka Honey Brands Reviewed
There are dozens of authentic manuka products on the market. We chose the 6 best ones to be reviewed in this guide.
Whether you are looking for the strongest medicinal manuka honey or just something to sweeten your tea, smoothie, or breakfast bowl, you can find great options here.
All products included in this guide are pure, raw, and authentic manuka honey.
Best Overall: New Zealand Honey Co. Raw Manuka Honey UMF 15+
Size: 8.8 ounces (also available in 1.1 lb / 500g jar)
Order directly from New Zealand Honey Co. for free shipping and fast delivery:
Product Highlights:
- UMF 15+
- MGO 514+
- Beautiful consistency for blending into shakes, marinades and more
- Great value for money
- Packaged in BPA-free jars
- Product of New Zealand
Foraged, prepared, and packed in New Zealand, this honey boasting a UMF 15+ rating is as authentic as it gets!
You’ll find that this particular manuka honey offers the potency and consistency needed for whipping up shakes, porridges, marinades, and much more. It’s also smooth enough to be used as the perfect secret ingredient for homemade hair and beauty products.
Perfect for simply scooping a spoonful into your mouth, this particular honey has a dense, chewy texture that feels very clean and smooth. The color can range from a darker cream to a dramatic brown.
New Zealand Honey Co. is definitely one of the best manuka producers in the the world and you can even request a testing certificate with each jar you purchase.
One nice thing about this raw honey is that you can buy it with a light heart because it’s sustainably sourced before being packed into recyclable, BPA-free jars.
Best Organic Manuka Honey: Wedderspoon Raw Organic Manuka Honey KFactor 16+
Size: 8.8 ounces
Product Highlights:
- KFactor 16+
- Packed in BPA free, non-leaching poly jars
- USDA Certified Organic
- Non-GMO project verified
- Earthy notes with crystallization
- Product of New Zealand
With a KFactor 16, this unpasteurized honey is deliciously packed with honey crystals that melt like candy on your tongue. Sweet, earthy tones create the sensation of walking through a caramel-coated garden.
While this honey works into recipes beautifully, its texture feels especially nice against the skin.
Verified to be a non-GMO product, this honey is sourced and packed in New Zealand. It arrives to you in a BPA-free, non-leaching poly jar with a USDA-Organic label.
Something you might notice about the honey jarred by this particular brand is that it has a powerful scent. This is one of the best organic raw honey products you can find anywhere!
Best Premium Manuka Honey: New Zealand Honey Co. Raw Manuka Honey UMF 24+
Size: 8.8 ounces (also available in 1.1 lb / 500g jar)
Order directly from New Zealand Honey Co. for free shipping and fast delivery:
Product Highlights:
- UMF 24+
- MGO 1122+
- Good texture for taking a “spoonful a day”
- Graded based on UMF Honey Association criteria
- Blends beautifully into shakes, smoothies, marinades and more
- Uses BPA-free recycled packaging
- Product of New Zealand
A living food that contains natural pollens and enzymes produced by bees, this 24+ UMF honey is both medicinal and delicious.
This lovely monofloral honey is foraged, prepared, and packed in New Zealand. It comes to you in a recyclable, BPA-free jar.
This honey is a great pick if you’re looking for a “superfood” that you can spoon into smoothies, teas, and yogurts to heal your body from the inside with its high antibacterial properties. Of course, it’s powerful and smooth enough to be a great topical agent for any wounds or sores that need healing.
Every batch of this honey is independently tested to ensure that you’re getting quality and consistency without losing that wild New Zealand streak.
Budget Pick: Manukora MGO 50+ Multifloral Raw Mānuka Honey
Size: 8.8 ounces
Product Highlights:
- MGO 50+
- Affordable 100% Manuka honey
- Raw culinary honey
- Uses a traceability system to track product from “hive to hand”
- Packaged in sustainable packaging
- Product of New Zealand
This affordable MGO 50+ raw honey is popularly used for culinary concoctions like smoothies and desserts. Even non-chefs will appreciate the way a thick, smooth teaspoon of this honey melts into a mug of hot tea so easily.
The natural taste of manuka is preserved by a process that involves taking this sweet honey from the hive to the jar with only minimal creaming in between. Enjoy a dense texture that is velvety and sweet on the tongue.
Sourced from New Zealand, this multifloral honey undergoes 15 different tests and verifications to give you peace of mind over the fact that you’re adding antibiotic-free, non-GMO, glyphosate-free, and residue-free honey into your kitchen.
The Manukora honey comes to you in FSC-approved (Forest Stewardship Council) PET plastic packaging that meets strict environmental and sustainability standards.
Delicious Taste: Comvita Certified UMF 10+ (MGO 263+) Raw Manuka Honey
Size: 17.6 ounces
Product Highlights:
- UMF 10+
- MGO 263+
- Every batch is independently tested and certified by the UMF Honey Association
- Non-GMO verified
- Delicious addition to smoothies and treats
- Glides on smoothly for skin brightening
- Product of New Zealand
With a UMF 10+, this honey isn’t necessarily a pick for your apothecary jar. However, it is a wonderful choice if you’re looking for the flavor and experience of manuka honey.
It blends quite easily into teas, oatmeal, and yogurts to add a touch of sweetness.
This particular manuka honey definitely has a darker, richer hue than some of the lighter, flowery colorings you see. You’ll also notice that it truly blends like a dream into whatever mixture or drink you’re adding it to!
However, the taste is still very strong and distinctive.
Great for Therapeutic Use: Good Natured Manuka Honey MGO 850+
Size: 8.8 ounces
Product Highlights:
- MGO 850+
- Every batch is tested in a New Zealand Accredited lab
- Produced using a cold extraction method to preserve wound-healing abilities
- Active medical honey
- No creaming takes place during processing
- Product of Australia
This is the manuka honey you’ve been looking for if you’re searching for a truly medicinal blend with antibacterial qualities!
With an MGO 850+, this honey is touted as offering medicinal-strength potency. Sold in a BPA-free bottle, each batch is produced in a facility that operates with solar power.
The company also manages its own hives while adhering to all Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) protocols.
A special cold extraction method is used to preserve the honey’s leptospermum for maximum efficacy. In fact, the company is transparent enough to publish lab reports online demonstrating the potency of this honey.
While the Good Natured Manuka Honey can be consumed by the spoonful, it also has a very thick and soothing consistency that makes it a great option for topical application for wound healing.
Manuka Honey Grading System Explained
Authentic manuka honey is so prized that it has its own proprietary grading system called the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF). When shopping for manuka honey, always ensure that the honey has a grade to ensure that it’s authentic.
In addition, all real manuka honey contains three compounds called leptosperin, DHA and MGO.
UMF
Ratings range from UMF 5+ to UMF 26+. Your honey’s UMF rating confirms the concentrations of MGO, DHA, and leptosperin.
As the rating increases, so does the antibacterial potency of the honey.
The rating starts at “5” because any rating below “4” means that levels are undetectable. Ratings of “5” to “9” represent low levels. Ratings of “10” to “15” represent useful levels.
Once you get to “16” and above, high levels of the UMF compounds are present in the honey.
MGO
Methylglyoxal (MGO) is the natural compound that gives honey its potent antibacterial powers. In fact, the UMF score determines how much MGO is in a manuka product.
A higher rating equals a more “medicinal” honey product.
KFactor
While not as important as the UMF rating or MGO level. It’s actually a marketing term used by the Wedderspoon brand.
Manuka honey with a KFactor rating means it’s:
- Raw and unpausterized
- Free of antibiotics, glyphosate and pesticides
- Verified NON-GMO
- Traceability from hive to home
- Product of New Zealand
KFactor 16 indicates monofloral honey while Kfactor 12 means it’s multifloral.
What to Consider When Buying Manuka Honey?
If you’re purchasing manuka honey for the first time, it’s important to know how to look for quality.
Country of Origin: Know Where Your Manuka Comes From
Real manuka honey only comes from Australia and New Zealand.
Most of the manuka honey shipped around the world comes from a stretch of land spanning from New Zealand’s West Coast to the East Cape. It’s known by beekeepers and culinary experts as the “Golden Triangle” for rare honey.
Some sellers are betting on the fact that buyers don’t know about the exclusive origins of manuka honey. While other countries of origin may market honey as being “manuka” honey, the products they are selling aren’t actually derived from the native manuka bushes that produce this honey.
To ensure quality, avoid manuka honey from places like China.
Grading and Certifications
A reputable manuka honey producer should add information about UMF and/or MGO (or KFactor) ratings and certificates to the label.
While grading standards vary by honey producer, at least one of those categories should be displayed on the label. Certifications from food regulators and labs are also signs of integrity.
When Buying for Medicinal Purposes
If you’re purchasing manuka honey for its antibacterial properties, choose products with a UMF 20+ (or MGO 850+) rating or higher to get richer antibacterial properties through greater MGO levels.
When Buying for Sweetening Teas and Foods
If you’ll be using manuka honey as a sweetener in teas, granola, muffins, or other recipes because you’re craving its earthy, flowery taste, looking for products with a lower UMF is fine.
When Buying for Skin and Hair
If you’re purchasing manuka honey for beauty or skin treatments, opt for a higher UMF when trying to treat things like acne or a follicle infection.
When you’re simply looking for soothing, nourishing qualities for your skin and hair, you can save money by selecting a lower UMF rating.
Enjoy your daily dose of healthy manuka honey!
