Last night we went to Auckland to the Taste Farmers Market Awards dinner and we were awarded ‘Highly Commended (2^nd)’ in the “From the Kitchen bench” category.  We were up against jams, preserves, pestos, etc.  The winner for this category was ‘Relish the Thought’ from Auckland with their 30 different relishes - Well Done!  Congratulations to Ron Aratema (aka the Salmon Man) from the Waikato Farmers Markets!  He won ‘Freshest Producer from the Water!  Well done Ron!  Come down and see him at the Hamilton Farmers Market.
 
The awards celebrate the growers and producers that sell at Farmers Markets all around New Zealand from the butchery, the paddock, water and from the kitchen bench. The judges for the Taste Farmers Markets Awards were NZ leading chef Jonny Schwass, Master Chef Nadia Lim and acclaimed author and chef Julie Biuso.  The judges feedback on our products were:

• Like the packaging, great story and family business, no graininess, nice mouth-full and individual honey flavors. 
• Interesting bee pollen, serving suggestions on packaging, passionate food producers and it shows in product.
• Love the packaging and the story, really delicious and the real taste of honey flavour,  love the the honey is raw!

A great night was had by all.  Have a look at our photos.  Check out our Awards section of our website

Vicki, Steph, Martin & Harald

Here is more on the Taste Farmers Markets Awards

Our new Hakarimata honey (which doesn’t even have a label yet! Watch this space for details on when this, now award winning honey is released) received 2^nd place in the National Beekeepers Association ‘Beekeepers Special Reserve’ honey competition.  All products are sent in competition standard plastic pottles with no labels.  The honey was judged on colour (15%), cleanliness (15%), aroma (5%), texture/evenness of grain (20%), firmness (15%), flavour (25%) and general presentation (5%).

Our bee pollen also picked up 3^rd prize in the Dried Bee Pollen section.  Again the pollen was sent in standard competition plastic pottles with no labels.  The bee pollen was judged on general appearance (30%), colour (20%), cleanliness (20%), hardness (5%) and taste/flavour (25%).

This is really exciting for us to be recognised at these awards as this was against many other great New Zealand beekeepers and proves our honey is up there with the best of them.  These awards are judged purely on the product with no packaging, marketing or gimmicks to detract from the honey.

Check out our Awards section of our website