| 57 PRODUCTION Tarata Honey Three generations of passion T Sue Russell Making honey is all about timing and knowing it can’t be rushed. Raul Mateas-Orban hails from Romania, but has called New Zealand home for more than ten years. As a third generation apiarist, he came to this country initially to learn about our precious Mānuka honey and to contribute his skills and wisdom to establish his own honey producing business ‘Tarata Honey”. “I first worked for another honey manufacturer in Masterton and when he asked me to return the following year, together with my wife Eniko, we’ve decided we should move here. So I brought my family to New Zealand: my wife and our two sons, Mark (13) and Eduard (11)”. When talking with Raul about all things honey, he uses words such as crafting to describe his relationship to producing his winning medium creamed honey at this year’s APINZ Awards. Raul knows what it takes to produce beautiful pure mono flora sourced Mānuka honey. “You need to have everything under strict control from raising hives to harvesting the honey and you need to understand that when extracting the honey the bees are giving you the result of all their hard work, so you have to leave enough honey behind to ensure the future health of the hive.” Looking after his bees, Raul explains, it is not just like calling a vet. So many factors contribute to a hive producing honey nectar full of life’s forces. And knowing this, Raul says that understanding and controlling every part of the bee and honey making cycle is the reason his honey is exceptional. Above all, understanding making honey is all about timing and knowing it can’t be rushed. Especially Mānuka honey, which is like a fine wine: every batch is different and you handle each manuka honey batch differently. So much so that his honey was judged first place in the 2021 APINZ Awards Class C Creamed Honey Medium category. Where he is situated at Tarata, nestled in the heart of Taranaki between Egmont and Whanganui National Parks, the Mānuka flower blooms in January and February, later than in other districts. This gives the honey produced its own special character and flavour. Raul places his hives in his own locality deliberately. He does this because there is a cost attached to locating and managing hives on site. “After all it is my responsibility to have all processes of honey making under my control so I have to do this in a way that is manageable for me. Once extracted, Tarata Mānuka Honey is processed through my own honey extracting and packing factory situated in the Tarata Valley, close to my home. “As the owners of an MPI-approved honey export facility, we contract pack for other key players in the New Zealand Mānuka honey sector and every batch is carefully crafted, labelled and packed for domestic and global sale,” says Raul. And doing everything is exactly that – checking jars, attaching labels, filtering, blending and pouring the honey, analysing honey batches in an independent laboratory and marketing here in New Zealand and overseas. He has another shop in Norway and exports to Austria, the USA and UK. Tarata Manuka Honey is produced to a range of MGO (Methyglyoxal) purity levels, from MGO70+, MGO300+, MGO500+ to MGO850+. “Our hives are deliberately placed in the depths of the rolling Tarata hills and hidden forests.” It is during the summer months that the Manuka trees are in full bloom with the precious small white flowers that are the engine room for producing the raw Manuka Honey MGO 850+. The number of bees per hive under Raul’s care swells to 65,000 over summer to 10,000 bees through winter. These numbers are necessary in summer as the delicate white flowers are prone to dry out in the wind, so a substantial number of ‘worker bees’ are needed to extract the Mānuka nectar quickly. When Business Central spoke with Raul he was busily preparing the hives and raising the Queens for the forthcoming honey collection season. “I am very busy all year. In the winter I am packing my honey. I am also helping a couple of community school hives and visit school children to explain the life of the bee. “The key message is that we need plants to help the bees.” Certainly Raul’s passion for and commitment to making his world-class honey is the key impulse through his life. “I really love what I make and how me and my family live our lives here. Tarata is a beautiful small community to be a part of. “We’re proud to live and work in this little green paradise of New Zealand.” Please enquire to: james@hdprocess.co.nz www.hdprocess.co.nz 10 Maurice Road, Penrose, Auckland +64 9 580 2520 Fax +64 9 580 2525 PUMPS | FILTERS | HEAT EXCHANGERS | EXTRACTION | PROCESSING
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