Fewster's Farm Honey

THESE days when consumers still find it tough to tell the difference between authentic and counterfeit honey, it’s reassuring to know there are sources that carry out high standards in production. In Western Australia, Fewster’s Honey Farm is well-regarded for its pure Jarrah honey. Manager Kim Fewster is fourth-generation owner and beekeeper, and has maintained the same product quality associated with his family’s bee farms in Muchea. FoodPacific Manufacturing Journal caught up with Mr Fewster in Singapore where he was a speaker and exhibitor at the Food & Hospitality Asia 2014.

Fewster’s must be one of the oldest honey producers in Australia.

My family started beekeeping in 1914. We’re very passionate about our beekeeping and our honey. Our knowledge of producing and packaging of honey for 100 years is responsible for our consistent and very high quality.

How many producers are there in the area?

Western Australian honey producers have declined by over 300% in 30 years due to poor returns for honey and younger beekeepers not entering the industry. Currently there are about 35 commercial beekeepers in Western Australia (WA). Over 700 hobbyist and part-time beekeepers with less than 50 hives also contribute. The significant decline in the amount of honey produced in WA is due to honey production being both expensive, and requiring a very high level of skill and experience by the beekeeper. 

Producing high-quality honey requires that I take my bees to the best trees, so there is a lot of transport and traveling costs.  My bees also do most of the hard work for me, so I must make sure that they are fit, happy and healthy.  I can look at the bees in a hive and tell instantly if they are OK.  If they are not, I know what to do to make them better.  I also need bees that are very strong, so I breed a new queen for each hive every year.

Is there an advantage to honey made in WA?

WA is one of the few places in the world that is free from bee pests and diseases that require regular treatment of chemicals in the bee hive.  WA’s stringent importation, quarantine laws, and isolation from other parts of the world have meant our honey is as pure and natural as nature can provide. Also, most of our honey is produced in very old forests uncontaminated by industry or agriculture, and other natural bush lands.  The older Jarrah forests also produce honey with the highest TA (total activity).

Finally, we feed our bees very little or no sugar supplements during the winter, when the hive goes into a state of hibernation, due to the abundance of winter flowering honey and pollen producing plants in southwest WA.  We never feed our bees sugar when they are producing the honey that we sell. This means the honey we produce is not contaminated by cheap sugar-derived honey, as is the case in many other countries.

Please tell us about Jarrah honey.

Jarrah honey is produced by bees from nectar gathered from the flowers of the Jarrah tree.  The nectar is very sweet, and this is why the honey tastes so good. Jarrah trees are found only in Western Australia, where they grow very slowly in the ancient forests in the southern corner of the state.  The trees only produce flowers every second year in spring time.  The amount of nectar produced by the trees is determined by the amount of rainfall during winter, and I am concerned that this is slowly declining as rainfall decreases due to global warning.

Access to the best parts of the forests is also regulated by the government. There are a fixed number of bee sites in the forests, and the best of those are held by the beekeepers who have been in business a long time.  Some of the Jarrah sites that produce Fewster’s Farm Jarrah honey were acquired by my grandfather long before I was born. 

Our main Jarrah sites are also certified organic, as they are located well away from all forms of activity that could contaminate the nectar or honey.  Fewster’s Farm was also the first to obtain organic certification for Jarrah honey in WA, and we must reapply for the accreditation each year.  We also do not process or modify the honey in any way.

All of these factors make Jarrah honey, and particularly my Jarrah honey, very rare, and likely to become even rarer in future years.

How is Jarrah different from other pure honeys?

All premium honey is good, however, nature makes Jarrah honey very unique with the very high level of anti-microbial activity, as measured by the TA (total activity).  The TA in Jarrah is mostly derived from hydrogen peroxide that is produced by the bees when they convert Jarrah nectar to honey.  Jarrah is also special because it contains a high proportion of fructose compared to other honeys, and so has a very low GI. This makes it a suitable for diabetics as it does not trigger the production of insulin in the pancreas, and it may increase stamina in athletes.  Eating the honey raw may also improve your mood. 

Do all these make the honey pricier?

It’s quite expensive compared to normal honey because of the extra work and travel required to produce it.  However, the health and healing properties are unique, and people are prepared to pay for the quality and flavour. We presently pack three grades of organic certified Jarrah honey, these being TA10+, TA20+, and TA30+.  The price per jar depends on the grade and size of the jar, but ranges from A$35 per kg to A$150 per kg, plus shipping.

Walk us through the production process.

We are commercial migratory beekeepers.  We have about 1,500 bee hives that we move to different locations around the southwest of the state, including into the Jarrah forests every second year.  The bees fill frames in the hives with honey, and we periodically harvest the full frames to extract the honey.

After harvest, the honey is transported from the bee hives back to the extracting plant on our farm in Muchea. The honey is taken out of the honeycomb with a simple extractor (in a clean environment) and prepared for packing.  We do not dilute, or add anything to the honey to increase the volume, but instead package it with minimal heating or other processing that could affect the quality of the honey.

How much honey does Fewster’s produce?

Our bees produce an average of 115 kg per hive per year.  In the years that the Jarrah is flowering, we average about 65 kg of Jarrah honey per hive.

Where do you export your products?

Fewster’s Farm honey is exported to Japan, China, Singapore, and some Arabic countries including Dubai and Saudi Arabia, plus we sell through our website all over the world.  We also supply major supermarket chains in Australia.

What is your experience in marketing honey in these regions?

It is very early days for us yet, but the response to date of our range of organic Jarrah honeys has been very good.  We have found that the people in Asia and the Middle East like honey very much, and they are often very surprised by how good our Jarrah honey tastes compared to what they have been eating to date, and how the Jarrah is so beneficial for their vitality, good health and healing.  Many of our new customers have come to us at the recommendations of existing customers.

I am in the process now of preparing a shipment of Fewster’s Farm honey to a new customer in Libya, whom I met in at the Dubai conference.  We are also now starting to get enquiries directly from retailers of high-quality health food products, which is good, as it allows us to get closer to our final consumers. Our customers are also very generous in their feedback to us.  Following requests from Middle East customers, Fewster’s Farm plans to introduce Honey and Black Seed, Honey and Royal Jelly, and Honey and Ginseng.

It seems that counterfeit honey remains a big issue. How do you protect your product?

We have a policy of packaging all Fewster’s Farm premium honey at the farm at Muchea.  We also apply a quality assurance seal across the lid to prevent any tampering after the products are shipped.  Our customers can be completely confident in our reputation, and our history of delivering only the best pure honey that nature and our bees can provide.

I believe that government agencies need to enforce quality standards, and penalise companies who describe and label honey incorrectly.  If a consumer has any doubts about the quality of a honey that they buy, they should advise the retailer from where they bought it, and if dissatisfied with the response, advise the government.

As Australia’s representative to the Asian Apiculture Association, what is it you do?