Our History

It all began back in 1959…

It was 1959 when Leon Janson, a newlywed from Hawke’s Bay drove home in his Vauxhall PA having just purchased his very first bees. Thousands of bees swarmed in and around the car as it potted along New Zealand’s winding roads. Leon stacked ten hives on his trailer, two in the boot and two more in the back seat of the car; tense and squinting through the mesh of his bee suit the whole ride home.

“I always thought of honey as Gods great provision for Humanity” – Leon Janson

Little did he know these were the humble beginnings of a family company spanning generations, a company that nearly seventy years later would be distributing the highest quality Manuka honey to consumers all over the world. Hand collected from remote and isolated Manuka sites throughout New Zealand, Hamish and his team work tirelessly to harvest and provide the worlds best Manuka honey.

It is now Leon’s grandsons Hamish, Lars and Jules that oversees our bee-keeping operations, continuing the family’s tradition with passion, pride and respect. Now collecting far more than a few dozen jars of honey each year, the Janson’s are committed to maintaining the integrity and purity of their bees honey.

Melita Honey | New Zealand Manuka Honey - Four Generations — The Janson Family: Leon, Gus, Hamish and Roman

The Melita Vision

Melita’s Vision for Manuka Honey

The extraordinary value of Manuka honey is in its purity. The delicate balance of New Zealand’s native environment must be treated with the highest respect in order to protect its unique beauty.

We ensure this by managing every step of the harvesting process, from carrying the hives into the wilderness right through to the point of sale to ensure consistent, high quality honey. Larger companies buy their honey from many varied beekeepers creating a varied scale of quality, taste and nutrients in their final product.

As a company we take immense satisfaction in our ability to witness the bees collecting their honey in the isolation of the New Zealand landscape, and then personally extract the honey from the frames. Our honey is then taken through quality testing and a slow and careful packing process to deliver the final product to our very satisfied customers.

It is only through controlling all stages in the process of producing honey that a company can truly stand for and guarantee the quality of the product.

The extraordinary value of Manuka Honey is in its purity

Today we continue to collect and now globally supply Manuka honey in its purest most nutritional form, just as Leon Janson did back in 1959.

Our Honey

Let Nature Do the Talking

Manuka honey is a gift from the earth itself. Our methods are built on generations of practice and passion for what we do. We hand collect this gift, and deliver a premium authentic Manuka Honey that is kept as raw an unprocessed as possible.

From the hive to the table, we deliver a product of exceptional quality so you can enjoy the superior taste straight from nature.

Our dedication to the purity and quality of our honey is what sets us apart from the rest. All our honey has a scientific certification of origin and can be traced back to the original source, vintage and region.

We produce raw unprocessed honey that is a highly concentrated source of valuable vitamins, minerals and natural sugars. (Refer to our nutritional panel for specific information)

Our authentic UMF® Certified Manuka Honey is guaranteed to be exactly what we say it is, pure, natural, unadulterated honey. Straight from the hive to the table. Just the way nature designed it.

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