Kamahi
Kamahi
honey has traditionally been one of New Zealand's most under rated honeys.
While it is produced in both the North and South Islands, most Kamahi honey
is produced on the West Coast of the South Island. Here Kamahi trees (Weinmannia
racemosa) form a significant part of the forest canopy, growing to
around 25 metres at maturity. As Kamahi grows throughout New Zealand other
competing nectar sources (and their contribution to nectar composition) vary
from location to location. For example North island Kamahi can be produced
at the same time as Rewarewa and Manuka
so Kamahi from this region can tend to be darker because of the influence
of these two darker nectar sources.
Prior to market differentiation of different honey types facilitated by our
in house laboratory, Kamahi honey was extracted
as the main Spring honey type and little effort was made to separate other
honey types. In the West Coast region mentioned above, one of these other
types is Quintinea (Quintinea acutifolia), a honey with a very bitter
aftertaste. It is likely that this honey type is the source of Kamahi's early
reputation of a poor quality honey. Our laboratory techniques enable us to
separate this flavour profile from the good quality Kamahi honeys we select
to represent this excellent honey.
While quite a strong flavoured honey, Kamahi is in fact a honey with very
complex flavours and after tones that send honey gourmets into paroxysms of
delight. Cooking and baking recipes, where it
is desirable to have an identifiable honey flavour, benefit immensely from
these flavour sensations.
Towhai (W. silvicola also known as Towhero), is another close
relative of kamahi found only in the North Island. The two honeys are similar
but flowering for kamahi is late October to 
December,
while Towhai flowers later into Summer (Dec to Feb in the Southern Hemisphere).
Colour
Kamahi averages 37.2mm on the Pfund
Scale with a standard deviation (SD) of 10.7mm. It has a more yellow hue
than the Pfund grader standard.
Sugar Profile
Kamahi has a lower than average fructose.
Averages
for:
Glucose 31.9% (SD 2.3)
Fructose 36.8% (SD 2.1)
Sucrose 1.8% (SD 2.0)
Maltose 2.3% (SD 1.2)
This profile has an above average tendency to crystallize (for New Zealand
honey types) and we produce it as a creamed honey
for this reason.
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© 1999
Airborne Honey Ltd
