Blog

Meet Terry Bone, one of PRI’s beekeepers! Terry has been keeping bees for so long, his friends refer to him as “Honeyman”.

Terry is a competitive ocean swimmer, winning gold in his age group nationally (and silver the year before – his first full year of national competition). Terry also has Crohn’s disease, this and intensive swim training are hard on his body.

He is really interested in food and natural health so Terry landscaped the backyard of their cottage building terraced vegetable gardens, planting fruit trees he could in the small space and sourcing reclaimed landscaping items.

He is currently developing a section of regenerating native trees at Lake Rotoiti. He is planting additional natives on the land and will build a simple two-bedroom cabin there. The plan is to have the shell built and to complete a lot of the internal design and fitout using recycled and handmade materials. 

Swimming and bees take most of his time, but he unwinds in the kitchen. Terry loves preparing food from scratch. He also built his own outdoor pizza oven. People who come to their house will receive a meal whether they want one or not and will probably leave with a jar of something homemade. 

Terry truly believes in supporting the holistic guardianship of the bees. The underlying ethos is that humans and bees are now interdependent for survival. This is a complex issue but we believe it is vital that we pay and empower those who raise and care for bees. Read more about what it means to be a Sustainable Beekeeper in our recent blog post. 🐝

 

Easter is this Sunday and we have the tastiest Honey Glazed Ham recipe your entire family and friends will love. This delicious Multiflora Honey Clove-Glazed Ham makes for the perfect Easter Sunday main dish!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup – New Zealand Multiflora Honey
• 1-1/2 tablespoons – vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon – ground cloves
• 1 (5-lb.) – bone-in fully cooked ham, spiral sliced

Directions

Combine New Zealand Multiflora Honey, vanilla and cloves in small bowl until well blended. Place ham, cut-side down, in roasting pan; brush with honey mixture. Cover pan with foil and bake at 275°F about 1 hour or until heated through. Remove foil from ham and increase oven temperature to 425°F Brush with honey mixture. Bake about 10 minutes more or until ham is golden brown. Remove from oven and place on serving platter. Pour juices over ham.

Based on a recipe from National Honey Board

Brighten up your holiday with this delicious Multiflora treat. It can be made ahead of time.

Shopping List:

• New Zealand Multiflora Honey
• New Zealand Pacific Sea Salt

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup New Zealand Multiflora Honey
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons corn starch
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch salt of New Zealand Pacific Sea Salt

Preparation

Combine butter, sugar, egg, and in a mixer and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Make sure the dough is very light in color and fluffy, stop mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the New Zealand Multiflora Honey, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until combined and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, New Zealand Pacific Sea Salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute. Spoon into mounds. Place mounds on a large plate, flatten slightly with your palm, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Make sure the dough is cool because cookies will spread and bake flat cookies.

Preheat oven to 350F, spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheets, spaced at least 2 inches apart. Bake for no longer than 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges are golden and tops are just beginning to set. Cookies will become firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.

Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 4 months. Unbaked cookie dough may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

 

Wanna wow them with a dessert but it’s not your forte or you just don’t have time for fancy kitchen antics? The answer is Peach Pistachio Cardamom Honey Tart.

The most complicated thing about this dessert is it’s name with only 8 ingredients and crazy good flavor. Use premade puff pastry and time to oven is under 30 minutes. Add another 30 minutes to bake and bobs-your-uncle! 

You could drizzle the sauce over the top while everyone is watching for extra drama & anticipation but this dessert really needs no theatrics to make it a hit. 

Peach Pistachio Cardamom Honey Tart

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
• ⅓ cup pistachios, pulsed in food processor or roughly chopped
• ¼ - ⅓ cup peach preserves or peach jam
• 4 peaches 
• 2 tbsp PRI Manuka Honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ - 1 tsp cardamom
• PRI Flaky Sea Salt

 

Instructions:

1. With a sharp knife, cut peaches into sliced shapes, whatever shape desired.
2. Preheat oven to 400F.
3. Remove thawed puff pastry from the box and place on a silpat mat or parchment lined baking sheet.
4. Use a knife to score a ½” border, be careful not to cut all the way through the dough.
5. Using a spoon or pastry brush, spread peach preserves on the puff pastry within the scored border.
6. Sprinkle half the pistachios on the puff pastry within the scored border. Place your sliced peaches over the preserves in whatever design preferred. Finally, sprinkle the rest of the pistachios over the peaches. 
7. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until the pastry dough has puffed up and is golden on the edges.
8. While baking, in a small bowl, combine manuka honey, vanilla and cardamom. Stir until well combined.
9. Once the tart is finished baking, remove from the oven and drizzle with manuka honey and cardamom mixture, top with flaky sea salt and serve! Enjoy!

We’re channeling your childhood with these red, white and blue pops but also appeasing the responsible adult in you that knows processed sugars and artificial colors are terrible for you. These are especially fitting since July is also watermelon AND blueberry month. 

Round out the sweetness of the fruit & honey with our Manuka honey and the creaminess of coconut milk and your tastebuds will burst with delicious flavor fireworks!!

Quick to make, impressive to look at and good for you, these refreshing pops will be loved by all but if you want to make the texture closer to ice cream just use the cream from the top of the coconut milk & save the liquid for another use. Just make sure to grab an extra can at the store!

Blue Layer:

• 1-2 cups blueberries
• 1 can coconut milk
• 3 tbsp PRI Manuka honey (or more to taste)

White Layer:

• 1 can coconut milk 
• 1/4 cup PRI Manuka Honey
• 3 tbsp lemon juice (or more to taste)

Red Layer:

• 2 cups fresh watermelon 
• 2-3 tbsp PRI Manuka Honey
• ⅓ cup coconut milk or water

Instructions

1. In a blender, mix blueberries, coconut milk and honey together until smooth. Strain mixture through a mesh strainer. If the mixture begins to separate, put it in a pan on low heat and stir until combined.
2. Pour into the popsicle mold ⅓ of the way. Freeze for 1-2 hours until set. The longer you freeze the sharper your layers will be, if you want a gradient, freeze for shorter.
3. In the clean blender, now mix the coconut milk with the honey and lemon juice. This may separate, so put it in a pan and stir on low heat if needed.
4. Once the first layer of popsicles has frozen, pour the white layer and freeze for an additional hour.
5. Finally, make the red layer with fresh watermelon, honey, and coconut milk. Strain the mixture and pour into the popsicle mold to complete the layer. Freeze overnight.
6. Remove from mold and enjoy!

PSA: this month is National Cherry Month & Great American Pies month and the 20th is Cherry Pie Day!  

With so many delicious holidays, how could we not celebrate?!? Since we know you’ll want to join us, we thought we’d give you a hand…...pie!  

This recipe is also a great choice to make for your cutie pies on Galentine’s and Valentine’s Day. Too many pie puns? OK, moving on!

Of course, we had to make this classic healthier so we’ve reduced the standard sugar content with our Organic Raw Honey and added some delicious chia seeds to the filling. Up the health benefits even more by using our manuka honey.

These paleo hand pies are great for the beginner & expert baker alike and will be loved by your whole family. Make it dairy free with your favorite vegan butter for equally delectable results!

                   Paleo Cherry Hand Pies

A perfectly flakey totally paleo crust with a gooey honey chia cherry jam filling. Think of a pop tart mixed with a cherry pie, sweetened with raw Australian honey! 

Ingredients:

Pie Crust:

• 1 cup blanched almond flour
• 1 ¼ cup  tapioca starch
• 2 tbsp coconut flour (add an extra 1 tbsp if the dough is too sticky)
• 1/2 cup butter (cold, 1 stick), sliced into 16 pieces
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp PRI Raw Australian Honey 
• 1-2 tbsp coconut sugar (optional)
• 1-2 tbsp ice water

Honey Chia Cherry Jam Filling:

• 2 cup frozen cherries, slightly thawed
• 2 tbsp PRI Raw Australian Honey 
• 2 tbsp chia seeds

Dough Instructions:

1. The night before, prepare the dough for the curst. In a food processor, pulse almond flour, tapioca starch, coconut flour and cold butter. Keep pulsing until the butter is broken down into tiny pieces.
2. Next add in the egg, honey, and coconut sugar. Add in 1-2 tbsp of ice water as needed to get the dough to come together.
3. Form the dough into a round disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the fridge overnight. 

Jam Instructions: 

1. In a saucepan, on medium heat combine frozen cherries with lemon juice and chia seeds. Stir often.
2. Let the mixture cool down and add the honey. Bring to a quick simmer on high heat and turn off.
3. Transfer to a jar and let it cool before assembling.

To Assemble:

1. Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper until you get your desired thickness. Stamp out the circles to your desired size with a biscuit cutter or cookie cutter. Keep repeating until you’re out of dough and you have an even number or circles.
2. Preheat the oven to 350ºF, and refrigerate the cut outs while it’s preheating.
3. Next, to assembly, put in 1-2 tbsp of the jam in the center and cover with the top layer of dough. Pinch the edges together with a fork. Make sure to leave a border. Repeat until they are done.
4. Cut little vents into the top of the hand pie so the don’t ooze out and brush with egg wash to get a crispy golden crust.
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until they are crispy golden brown. Rotate half way through to get an even layer of golden crispy goodness.
6. Enjoy immediately and warm.
7. Store in a closed container for 3 days and reheat in a toaster to enjoy!

From Kransekage in Denmark & Norway to struffoli in Italy to Oliebollen in the Netherlands and more, round foods are thought to bring luck during the New Year by many different cultures! 

 

In some places the round shape symbolizes coins & the desire for physical or personal wealth; in others it symbolizes the close of the previous year and the promise of the new one. 

 

We’re going to celebrate this New Year’s with our favorite round food - donuts! Our recipe developer said this was quite possibly the tastiest recipe she’s ever made and we must say we agree!! 

Our Lemon Twist Manuka Honey gives the absolute perfect sweetness and lemon flavor with no other added sweeteners! As this delectable dessert is also baked, not fried, they make for a much healthier treat than their traditional counterparts.

Ingredients:

• 2 pasture raised eggs
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup PRI Lemon Twist Manuka Multifloral Honey 
• 2 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• Juice of half a lemon
• zest of one lemon
• 1 cup blanched almond flour
• 1/3 cup tapioca starch 
• 3 tbsp coconut flour 
• 1/4 tsp PRI Sea Salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 baking soda

Lemon Honey Glaze 

1 cup coconut butter

3 tbsp PRI Lemon Twist Manuka Multifloral Honey 

Juice of half a lemon 

2-3 tbsp almond milk (as needed)

Bring to a quick boil, stir quickly and turn off heat. Wait to cool before dunking donuts in the glaze. 

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 6-cavity donut pan with cooking spray or oil of choice and set aside. 
2. In a large bowl or stand mixer, whisk the eggs until air bubbles start to form. 
3. Next add the remaining wet ingredients: almond milk, manuka honey, coconut oil, vanilla extract, lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir until well combined.
4. Next, add in the dry ingredients: almond flour, tapioca starch, coconut flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Mix until you have a well combined batter. If you want to prevent clumps sift the almond flour before mixing in.
5. Spoon the batter into the donut pan but leave a little room at the top for the donuts to rise. 
6. Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges start to get golden brown. Let the donuts cool for a few minutes in the pan and then transfer them to a cooling rack. Let the donuts cool completely before creating the glaze. 

Glaze Instructions:

1. To make the glaze add coconut butter and honey to a sauce pan with lemon juice. Heat gradually until the mixture combines and starts to form a glaze texture, if the mixture is too thick liquify by adding almond milk 1 tbsp at a time if needed.
2. Let the glaze cool and dunk the donut in for a generous glaze. Top with lemon zest and sprinkles of choice. Enjoy!

 

 

School’s out and Summer break is in full swing. If your family is anything like ours, you’re all probably itching for your next family outing. Unfortunately taking your kids out for a day of fun in the sun isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Here are some helpful ways to plan ahead and ensure smooth sailing for your next family trip!

WHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO DO:

Planning out a family trip may feel daunting at first, but fear not, the hardest part is getting started, and we’re here to help! When choosing the right location for your family trip, keep these three things in mind:  budget, distance, and your families interests. Places like the beach or a national park are both great, low budget activities for you and the family. Feeling a little indecisive? A fun way to get the rest of the family involved in picking the next travel destination could be a trip jar! Cut up small pieces of paper and let everyone take turns writing down places that they want to go. Put them in a jar and have fun picking and choosing!

KEEPING THE WHOLE FAMILY HAPPY:

Traveling with kids can be challenging, but traveling with hungry kids can be near impossible. Most snacks are packed with over-processed ingredients and sugars that do more harm than good. When it comes to healthy, delicious, snack-age, you know that Pacific Resources International has you covered! Here’s a list of naturally delicious snacks that will fuel your family on your Summer getaway.

Proper Crisps– These chips are 100% natural, gluten free, GMO free, and are made with only three simple ingredients: Potatoes, High Oleic Sunflower Oil, Sea Salt. That’s all!

Manuka Honey Lollipops– Don’t be fooled, these are not your everyday lollipops. These pops are packed with propolis that works to fight off infection, an upset tummy, or even an itchy throat on the go. Plus, they’re sweetened with organic cane sugar and all natural Manuka Honey!

-This sweet snack works to boost your immune system and is just absolutely delicious. The easiest way to take your daily dose of Manuka Honey on the go!

Summer is a great time to get the family together. With a little prepping, you can create the perfect Summer trip for you and the family. No muss, no fuss, just a great time with the family… and delicious snacks of course. Happy travels!

Those who have it, know how difficult psoriasis is to both manage and live with. As there is currently no cure for psoriasis, those who have been diagnosed with this autoimmune disease not only have to endure internal & external pain but also live with skin lesions that can make them feel self-conscious. If you are one of the over 7 million people in the U.S. affected by psoriasis and want to learn more about how manuka honey can help, along with other management tips, click here.

If you want to know more about what psoriasis is, read on!

Like many autoimmune diseases little is known about the cause of psoriasis however, enough is understood about our immune response to understand how & why it manifests the way it does. When you have psoriasis your T cells, which normally help your body protect against threatening foreign substances, are overactive. This overactivity causes them to attack not just disease-causing substances but also healthy skin cells. 

Everyone’s skin cells are constantly dying and regrowing, a process that would normally take about a month. For someone WITH psoriasis though, this takes only a few days causing painful, red, itchy, scaly patches of build-up on the skin. 

This cycle doesn’t tend to stop without some sort of treatment and can be more or less severe depending on many factors. These factors are different from person to person but can include stress, change in the weather, cuts, burns or scrapes, seasonal allergies, and dryer weather such as in dry desert climates or during winter.

While there are not many studies directly related to the use of Manuka Honey on psoriasis, it is thought to have great promise in treating psoriasis lesions. Unlike other honey, Manuka contains a unique component known as MGO; MGO has been shown to be a great aid in anti-inflammatory & antibacterial treatments. In addition to this, there is an overwhelming number of anecdotal reports on the effectiveness of Manuka Honey in reducing the severity of psoriasis outbreaks (by regular internal use) and the management of skin lesions/ external pain (when applied externally).

Manuka oil is shown to have many of the same benefits when used externally. Additionally, both the oil and honey have been shown effective against Staphylococcus Aureus, which has long been associated with atopic dermatitis. 

Given there are no known side effects from using Manuka oil or honey in conjunction with other treatments or on their own, why not give it a try and see if it can be beneficial to your symptoms? In fact, here is a special code just for you for 15% off any PRI Manuka Honey or Oil with the code SKINHELP.

Here are some great and easy ways to incorporate manuka products into your routine:

1. Add manuka oil and/or honey to your current moisturizer, body, or face wash. Adding to your shampoo and conditioner can also be a great help if you have scalp psoriasis 
2. Apply manuka oil and/or honey directly to your skin. (Note 100% Manuka oil needs to be diluted before external use. This can be done with any of your favorite carrier oils; simply add 10 drops of manuka oil to 2 Tablespoons of carrier oil.) We also have a pre-diluted 10% manuka oil (carried in almond oil) which is great for use right out of the bottle! If using Manuka honey, simply apply to the affected area and cover before bed!
3. Add manuka honey and/or oil + Epsom salts to your bath. The salts will help you shed dead skin, while the manuka will help kill bad bacteria & fungus while locking in moisture. You can also add ground-up oats for some extra love.
4. Help remove irritating dead skin and soothe inflammation with the most gentle exfoliating technique ever: honey tapping! Using only honey and your hands or a spoon honey tapping is a great way to exfoliate sensitive skin.
5. Take at least one tablespoon of manuka honey per day to help fight internal inflammation.

And, make sure to catch some sun! Ultraviolet B rays have also been shown to reduce the symptoms of psoriasis and  as little as 10 minutes in direct sun can be enough. 

Resources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7694078/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5562472/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/atopic-dermatitis-eczema/symptoms-causes/syc-20353273#:~:text=Atopic%20dermatitis%20(eczema)%20is%20a,irritating%20but%20it%27s%20not%20contagious

https://www.psoriasis.org/scalp/

Bees. Superheroes to every human - and really to every animal -  around the world. Essential to our survival, bees along with many other important pollinators, are responsible for at least a third of the crops we use every day. In New Zealand specifically, they team up with the mighty manuka shrub to create the most magical, medicinal honey in the world - manuka honey!

While native Maori peoples had been using all parts of the manuka shrub both medicinally and to create their homes and tools, there were no bees in NZ to make honey until 1839. This was the year Mary Bumby, sister of a Methodist missionary, brought two hives ashore and introduced European Honeybees to New Zealand. 

Brought over specifically to make honey, these bees also quickly became vital to crop pollination across the country, especially since most NZ crops are non-native. Used to pollinate everything from apples to the clover in dairy fields. Over 100,000 honeybee hives are used each year in New Zealand just to pollinate kiwifruit vines alone.

Over the years, the popularity of our favorite bee product - manuka honey - has seen a major increase. The number of hives has grown from around 300,000 to over 700,000 just between the years 2000 and 2019 more than doubled the value of pollination services in New Zealand. 

While PRI has always focused on sustainable beekeeping practices, this increase has made it more important than ever to ensure that we value and protect our honeybees to ensure not only their health but the health of our world and future generations. 

These practices are an important qualifier for PRI’s beekeeping partners. By restoring healthier bee populations and using managed care for bees, in a manner that respects their natural processes, we can help improve ecological agriculture and pollination. PRI supports research and preservation efforts to provide “best practices” education for beekeepers and farmers. Our beekeepers’ goal is first and foremost to meet our needs in a way that will also improve life for future generations. 

As part of the SAVE the BEE initiative,  a sustainable-beekeeper-only partnership committed to protecting honey bees by increasing public awareness of the role honeybees play in a healthy food supply, a portion of every purchase of our jarred honey is donated to help the bees. 

Want to know how you can help your local pollinators? Start by planting a bee garden and going chemical-free in your yard. Use this free resource to find plants native to your area, along with how many different types of pollinators will enjoy them!

Label-reading just got easier!

Listen, we don’t have hours to spend researching everything and we know you don’t either. So after months of deliberation, and gathering feedback from our loyal customers (that’s you!) we are excited to announce that we are moving to a quick and easy rating system that will help you understand your honey at-a-glance.

In June 2022, P.R.I. will be moving to a single-number MGO* on the label, and a QR code that you can scan (for those of you who crave all the juicy details about what’s in your jar.)

 "We believe making a purchase shouldn't require hours of research! To that end, the PRI team has long been in discussion to find the best way to label our Manuka Honey strengths in a clear and transparent manner. As the original importer of manuka honey to the U.S., we have used the standard rating systems originally used by all, to differentiate the strengths of Manuka. 

 However, over the years, our understanding of what makes manuka honey unique has expanded tremendously & testing and regulations have evolved along with that knowledge. MGO has now become a standard around the world for labeling the strengths of Manuka Honey. Our first step was to introduce the MGO level on our labels, putting this next to our original rating numbers. We hoped this would help customers in the transition and be able to easily compare our Manuka to that of the newer Manuka companies that have popped up over the last few years. Over the last 6 months, we have been gathering feedback from our customers and other experts in the field, and we decided to relaunch our Manuka range with just 1 number - MGO. Additionally, we are giving our customers a way to easily access test results for each batch of manuka honey we sell via a  QR code* right on the label. Simply scan the code with your phone for all the details about your honey!"

~ Kristy (CFO of P.R.I.)

*Click here to learn about MGO and how to read your test results.

Come January, I think of new ways to eat light without giving up creativity. Here is a recipe with our brand-new Parsnip Crisps from New Zealand’s Proper Crisps. A salad that has a great crunch.

Shopping List:

• Parsnip Crisps
• Squeezable Clover Honey
• Pacific Sea Salt

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup baby spinach
• 1 Cup of arugula
• 1 Handful of Proper Crisps Parsnips
• 2 Tablespoons of crumbled blue cheese
• 3 Smoked salmon slices cut into chunks
• 1 Thinly sliced pear
• 2 Tablespoons of Squeezable Clover Honey
• Pacific Sea Salt and pepper
• Balsamic vinegar
• High grade olive oil
• A handful of walnuts

Preparation:

Heat a frying pan and add walnuts. Let them roast for a minute watching to make sure they don’t burn. Add Clover Honey and toss gently to cover nuts. Add balsamic vinegar and liquid. Should begin to bubble a little. Continually toss to ensure no burning or sticking. Remove from heat after a couple of minutes. Season with Pacific Sea Salt and pepper.

Salad Assembly:

Place salad leaves into bowls. Add salmon chunks. Then pear slices and cheese. Sprinkle walnuts and Parsnip Crisps over top and add additional walnuts. Season with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.