The True Honey Co.’s Rare Harvest 2050 MGO Mānuka Honey Sets a Record

Honey is one of nature’s greatest gifts, thanks in no small part to its delicious taste and wide-ranging health benefits. Many people will go to any length to sample the best varieties, but would they pay £1300 for a jar? Well, that’s what they would have to part with to experience a jar of The True Honey Co.’s Rare Harvest 2050 MGO Mānuka Honey.

There are probably few people in the World today who don’t like the taste of or don’t appreciate how great honey is. It is quite an extraordinary food source that requires an enormous amount of effort from bees to produce, and it almost feels unfair that we get to eat the fruits of their labour and not them!

Amongst all the varieties, Mānuka Honey sits at the top of the pile. The True Honey Co.’s Rare Harvest 2050 MGO Mānuka Honey may well sit above all as it is the most potent and highest-grade variety ever documented.

Just 1000 jars are being produced, with the honey being expertly produced in the most pristine remote location in New Zealand, which is only accessible via helicopter.

Everything about The True Honey Co’s liquid gold has been carefully crafted – from the location, timing and utmost care for their bees to the elegant design and richness of the jars it’s kept in.

Independent verification by the UMF™ Honey Association has confirmed that the True Honey Co.’s Rare Harvest 2050 MGO Mānuka Honey is the highest UMF™ mānuka honey in world history.

Limited quantities of the Rare Harvest 2050 (34 UMF™) jars are now exclusively available through select partners, Harrods and Selfridges. Alongside the previous collaboration range, the Rare Harvest 1900+ MGO product is in Harrods, and the Rare Harvest 1700+ is within Selfridges.

Some of these Rare Harvest 2050 (34 UMF™) jars are now available via key partners, luxury department store Harrods and Selfridges. The new Rare Harvest sits proudly alongside the previous collaboration range: the Rare Harvest 1900+ MGO product in Harrods and Rare Harvest 1700+ within Selfridges.

Campbell Naish, Acting CEO at the association, says although exciting, seeing the Rare Harvest achieve 34 UMF™ came as little surprise. “We conduct up to 3,000 batch tests each year across more than 200 brands,” says Campbell. “We also test non-UMF honey in New Zealand as well as offshore to benchmark the performance of our members.

“We know that The True Honey Co. is committed to achieving the highest rating they possibly can, have a track record of producing high-rating honey and have tailored their processes to do so.  Like any high-performing organisation, they are always looking to push the boundaries.”

Harrods Food Buyer Morgan O’Shea-Smith said, “It’s an honour to be part of another world record from The True Honey Co., and this incredible mānuka honey now sits proudly in our store.”

MGO, UMF – what does it all mean?
MGO refers to methylglyoxal, a sugar molecule with special health properties, found in most table honey in very small quantities. In The True Honey Co.’s exceptionally pure, luxury honey, the MGO can be over a hundred times higher.

Honey claiming to have high UMF™, or Unique Mānuka Factor (which is a measurement that considers the MGO, along with other properties of the honey) is tested by the UMF™ Honey Association and given a rating, helping to ensure that New Zealand is maintaining mānuka honey quality for consumers around the globe.

Jim McMillan (Te Atiawa), the founder and CEO of The True Honey Co., says a jar of his most precious mānuka honey is delicious, particularly when consumed straight off a spoon. And its health benefits are unparalleled. “It certainly has a strong flavour,” Jim says.

“It’s similar to toffee – both sweet and savoury, with a slight mocha note. I absolutely love it. But there’s also the experience of feeling its natural goodness running through your body. Our customers tell us they buy our Rare Harvest wanting to invest in the best of the best for optimal health and wellbeing.”

With only 1000 highly coveted beautiful amber glass jars available, each sealed with a luxurious hand-turned native timber lid, demand for the Rare Harvest 2050 MGO has already exceeded expectations. Jim attributes this success to the team’s dedication and the unique environmental conditions necessary for producing such high-grade honey.

Half of this extremely limited-edition honey was sold to eager customers – excited by the prospect of high-performing honey that is widely known to boost immunity, relieve symptoms of cold and flu and promote gut health – weeks before it launched.

“I feel really proud of our team for their enthusiasm and commitment when it comes to the production of ultra-high grade mānuka honey,” says Jim. “To make mānuka honey of this grade takes an exceptional set of environmental circumstances along with the utmost care and attention to the hives and honey maturation process.”

In order to achieve this world record honey, Jim and his team partner with landowners who have large stands of pristine mānuka on their properties. These remote locations require precision and care, so Jim deploys helicopters to drop the hives into their top-secret locations, where they stay for the duration of the mānuka flowering season before being lifted out, ensuring only the absolute purest nectar.

It’s been done that way for ten years, since the first time Jim spied a block of mānuka from the sky and thought, ‘We should produce honey there!’

“It’s a precision operation,” Jim says. “Using helicopters means we can place our hives in the middle of remote, dense stands of mānuka – places roads don’t reach – ensuring only the absolute purest mānuka nectar is sourced.”

Each jar of The True Honey Co.’s Rare Harvest 2050 MGO (RRP£1300) comes with its own drizzler and is encased in a special hand-crafted mānuka blossom box. It’s part of a wide range of delicious honey products available to purchase at https://truehoneyco.co.uk/.

The True Honey Co.’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jane Willersdorf, believes those who secure a jar will fall in love with the honey, its luxurious taste and texture, and enjoy its wellness properties. “It’s exciting to share our latest achievement with some of the world’s most discerning consumers – those who recognise the beautiful, pure mānuka honey we produce as the very best in the world.”