Want to know what’s the world’s most priciest and most precious Honey of all?
Find out in this video.
Mark Leong:
Boom, this is Mark Leong here, your Asia’s Juice guru.
Terry Tong:
And Terry here from GTCL. Makers of Anaya Trigona Honey.
Mark Leong:
Well, today I’m very excited because I’ve just got my little fellas here that I’ve purchased and this is called Trigona honey. In fact, I’m going to give it a try now. And in fact it doesn’t taste that sweet. So Terry, I’m very excited. I’ve decided to purchase these two bottles here. Okay. And what is actually Trigona honey?
Terry Tong:
Right. So Trigona honey refers to honey that comes from stingless bees. So stingless bees are actually a different variety of bees altogether. They don’t have sting. They look like tiny flies, but they can bite you if you irritate them.
Mark Leong:
Okay. So even though they are stingless but don’t go and irritate them.
Terry Tong:
Yes.
Mark Leong:
They will bite you. Okay? Don’t try that at home. Okay.
Terry Tong:
Yeah. So stingless bees actually occur in different parts of the world, we work with farmers in the Philippines who teach… Sorry. We work with beekeepers in the Philippines who teach farmers how to rear these stingless bees specifically to pollinate crops. So they actually don’t produce a lot of honey, which is why they’re not farmed commercially, which is why you probably wouldn’t hear very much about them, but they make excellent pollinators.
Mark Leong:
So what’s so special about Trigona honey? I mean, apart from it doesn’t only taste sweet, it has a variety of different flavors. Sweet, some sourness, some bitterness, some sweetness, right? So it’s a good blend of flavors, I would say. What’s so special about Trigona honey?
Terry Tong:
Well, what’s unique about Trigona honey, at least when we test our Trigona honey, it only contains about 17% of sugar.
Mark Leong:
Oh.
Terry Tong:
Yeah. So most honey out there in the market is at least 70 to 80% sugar.
Mark Leong:
Even if it’s a raw honey, right?
Terry Tong:
Yeah. Yeah.
Mark Leong:
Okay. So in a sense that one of the top great honey that everyone would definitely know and can relate to would be Manuka honey.
Terry Tong:
Yeah.
Mark Leong:
So how do I compare? How different is Trigona honey versus Manuka honey? Which of these are better?
Terry Tong:
Right. So in terms of difference, there’s mainly two difference. First is consistency in antibacterial activities. So Manuka honey’s antibacterial properties actually come from the Manuka nectar itself. So the more the bees collect the nectar from the Manuka flower, the stronger the UMF of the Manuka honey will be.
Terry Tong:
However, for the stingless bee honey, it is more consistent in the sense that the antibacterial properties come from the propolis from the hive. So the bees actually create their hive from beeswax and propolis and that propolis actually is infused into the hive regardless of the nectar source.
Terry Tong:
So in our case, the bees actually pollinate many crops, right? So they pollinate mango, tamarind, lychee, coconut, calamansi, and all these are flavors that you get in the honey itself.
Mark Leong:
That explains why it’s not only sweetness.
Terry Tong:
Yes. So it’s actually citrusy. It’s very fruity, very intense fruity flavor that you get. So we recently also sent our honey for a lab test in Singapore and it’s actually been proven to kill 83% of bad bacteria.
Mark Leong:
Wow, interesting.
Terry Tong:
Yeah and contrary, we did send a Manuka UMF 26+ honey that is certified to the same test, to do the same test, to the same lab and it only kills about 45% of bad bacteria.
Mark Leong:
So I’m definitely having good stuff here in my hands. Yeah.
Terry Tong:
Definitely. Yeah.
Mark Leong:
So if I have someone that is pregnant or someone that is diabetic, would you recommend them to consume this?
Terry Tong:
Yeah. So for pregnant ladies, you can consume the honey. The honey is only safe for children above one year old because there is a pollen content in there. If you have diabetes, it is a better substitute than your normal honey because of the lower sugar content. But then again, you need to again, watch your overall sugar intake.
Mark Leong:
Okay. And one last question, because from the way you’ve shared that, you know how these honey is extracted and it’s very unique. Do you have large supplies out there where you can get unlimited bottles for the entire year or it’s just going to be very limited source?
Terry Tong:
Right. So it is actually very limited, which is why, again, the bees are not farmed for their honey. In fact, one teaspoon that you take of the Trigona honey takes the bees 16 hours to produce.
Mark Leong:
Oh, my God.
Terry Tong:
One six, yeah.
Mark Leong:
Geez. I got to keep this like gold. Okay.
Terry Tong:
Yeah. So in one year, one hive only produces four bottles of honey. So again, very limited supply but what you know is that the honey that you take at the end of the day is really good for you. It’s natural. It’s pure.
Mark Leong:
Okay. Thank you, Terry. So now at least I know that I just got myself some really, really good stuff here. I got to treasure the usage of this. This is Mark Leong here, your Asia’s Juice Guru once again. I hope you enjoyed this short episode about understanding what is Trigona honey, because this is new to me as well. And of course, thank you, Terry, for being on this Juicy Show.
Terry Tong:
No worries.
Mark Leong:
Stay tuned for more episodes from us. Ciao.
Terry Tong:
Thank you.
