South West Honey

South West Honey belongs to two brothers, Ryan and Steve, who started keeping bees as a weekend hobby and found the hives multiplying faster than they had planned. By 2017 it had outgrown the shed and become a business.

They now run between 300 and 500 hives at sites around Pemberton and across the south west, placed in native forest where the bees work jarrah, karri, blackbutt and marri. None of these trees keeps a timetable. Jarrah flowers every second year at most, and blackbutt and marri come and go on their own schedule, so each harvest waits on the forest.

Each honey comes from a single area and is never blended with another. It is extracted cold, below 40°C, and filtered as little as possible, so what reaches the jar tastes of the tree and the season. Raw honey like this can set in the cupboard. Stand the jar in warm water and it runs again.

The shop sells the forest honeys in 260g jars, along with creamed honey, raw honeycomb, tasting packs and small jars made as wedding and event favours. The brothers also supply shops, restaurants and export buyers. Orders ship within Australia and to some countries overseas.