Sweetree’s Kirikiriroa Honey recently won a silver award in the ‘Beekeepers Special Reserve’ section of the National Beekeepers Association Honey Competition. Sweetree’s Dried Bee Pollen also won bronze the national bee pollen section.
The National Beekeepers Association awards are judged purely on the product with no packaging, marketing or gimmicks to detract from the product. All honeys and pollens are entered in the same packaging and the products are judged on characteristics such as taste and texture. The judge, Maureen Conquer - President of Apimondia Oceania, commented, “It was very steep competition this year”. Read more details on our awards.
About Kirikiriroa Honey (from Hamilton City!)
Sweetree honey owners Martin and Stephanie Lynch have struck up a partnership with the Hamilton City Council in which a number of our beehives are located in three of the city’s most popular iconic parks – Hamilton Gardens, Hamilton Zoo and Taitua Arboretum. The honey harvested from these parks is packed as ‘Kirikiriroa Honey’. Kirikiriroa is the Maori name for Hamilton. “This is the first year we have taken honey from the city beehives and it’s fantastic that it should win an award," Martin says.
Peter Sergel, Hamilton Gardens Director, says the arrangement with Sweetree is a real benefit to the gardens. "This is a great result for Martin and his team in their first year of working with us, and we're looking forward to selling the Kirikiriroa Honey at the Hamilton Gardens shop. I'm confident our visitors will be keen to sample, quite literally, a taste of Hamilton Gardens.
"When Martin dropped the zoo beehives into their site adjacent to the giraffe enclosure at 6:30am. It was very quiet and also a little surreal to see seven long necks towering above the foliage and 14 large eyes staring at him stock still and watching his every move! That's a first in beekeeping for him!
Hamilton Gardens
Hamilton Zoo
Taitua Arboretum
