Foragers Honey

The hives at Foragers Honey stay where they are. Commercial beekeeping often means moving hives around the country to follow the flowering. This family-operated business, based at Barrabup near Nannup, keeps its bees at permanent apiary sites across the Margaret River and Nannup region. The sites are chosen for a diversity of flowering species, so that nectar is available across different seasons.

The business describes itself as a caretaker of its bees. It states that the bees are not migrated between locations and not intensively bred, and that it uses no chemicals on the bees or the hives. Only excess honey is harvested, it says, and enough reserves are left to sustain the colony.

At harvest, a clearing board moves the bees gently off the comb. The honey is extracted in a centrifuge and then gravity strained, not heavily filtered, which keeps it raw.

The bees forage on the native forest and wildflowers of the South West, a region the maker's site describes as an internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot. Because the bees stay put, the honey follows the country around them. Its character varies by season and by year, depending on what is in flower. Two jars with the same label from different years need not be identical, and that is the point.

The range is named for what was flowering. Jarrah and Marri come from the two big forest trees of the South West. Wildflower Honey is drawn from mixed South West wildflowers, and there is a Spring Forest Honey too. The Creamed Honey is set to a spreadable texture. Taster, Premium and Full Range gift packs hold several jars each. They are the simplest way to put the varieties side by side and find out which one your household argues over.