The Best Raw Honey Brands You Can Buy

Nature Nate's is one of the most appealing places to start with raw honey. The company offers a wide range of sizes and styles, including organic and non-organic options. There are even pouches of raw honey that you can take on the go. 

Unlike many other brands, Nature Nate's offers multifloral honey. This honey comes from multiple types of flower, rather than one. This produces a less distinct flavor. 

That's not entirely bad. If you've never had raw honey before, monofloral options might be overwhelming. Nature Nate's is a good middle ground. It's also an inexpensive brand. So, if you don't want to pay a lot for honey - this is the perfect choice. 

GloryBee is an interesting brand if you want to try out monofloral honey and experiment with the flavors. There are 12 different varieties. However, these are seasonal, so availability changes over time. 

Some of the options are also organic, while others aren’t.

The company provides considerable information about their processes and there is a strong emphasis on creating high-quality natural honey using as little processing as possible.

This is another monofloral choice. Big Island Bees is a smaller company, offering five different varieties of honey in two sizes. The honey is produced in Hawaii, is raw and comes in a glass jar. Some of the flavors are also certified organic. 

The brand isn't as well-known or as popular as some of the other entries in this list. But, it is still an interesting choice. If nothing else, the varieties are unusual and would be worth trying out. 

To be honest, smaller honey producers often create amazing products anyway. 

This is another fairly obscure brand but it's a very appealing one. Their main product is leatherwood honey, which comes from Australian rainforests. 

The company states that the honey is rare and has balsamic, white flower and citrus notes. This is an unusual combination of flavors and seems to be very popular. 

The honey also comes in a reusable metal tin, which should help with shipping and storage. 

The same brand produces other varieties too, including French Lavender Honey, Tasmanian Meadow Honey and Manuka Honey.

This is a Texas-based honey company, which might appeal to some of you. They offer liquid and creamed raw honey, along with a honeycomb product. 

The sizes are larger than many other brands, while still being reasonably priced. 

However, this is wildflower honey. This means it comes from multiple flower species. Again, that's not entirely bad and many people prefer multifloral honey. If that applies to you, then this is an appealing brand - and it gets great reviews.  

This company strongly specializes in manuka honey and provides significant information about where the honey comes from. The brand also has a range of different MGO ratings, so you can choose based on which you want.

It is also one of the most well-known manuka honey brands, making them very reliable. Because their reputation matters, the company does everything it can to ensure that the honey is healthy and offers the most benefits. 

While talking about best raw honey brands, I also want to mention this option, which comes from the company The Beekeeper's Daughter. 

Notably, the product is comb honey. You still get honey but you're also getting the honeycomb along with it. 

There hasn’t been much research done on health benefits from honeycomb itself but it’s easy to see that there could be advantages. At the same time, many people do enjoy the honeycomb and it really is something to try at least once.

There are many different varieties of raw honey and these can have dramatic differences in taste. Additionally, you’ll find some options that are made with the nectar from a single type of flower, while others may use a combination.

However, there is one specific variety that gets considerable attention, which is manuka honey. This is produced from the species Leptospermum scoparium and the plant is native to New Zealand and southeast Australia.

Manuka honey is also one of the darkest varieties of honey.

This gives it a fairly deep and distinctive taste, which is very different than the honey that many people are used to.

But, the significance of manuka honey comes from the health benefits. In particular, it is associated with significant antimicrobial properties above and beyond other types of honey (1,2,3,4,5).

Because of this, manuka honey is often measured via the MGO or the UMF standard. Of the two, UMF is typically considered more reliable, although both are still in use (6,7).

For example, the UMF rating can be seen with the brand Comvita. This is also one of the best honey brands if you’re specifically looking at manuka honey.

With this in mind, picking manuka honey with a higher MGO or UMF rating could potentially mean more benefits. Nevertheless, the rating does specifically refer to antimicrobial activity. As a result, it doesn’t offer a complete picture of the health benefits.

Additionally, a higher rating will typically increase the price. For example, there is a UMF 5+ version from Comvita that is relatively inexpensive. 

Overall, manuka honey is often viewed as being extremely healthy and is popular among people wanting to get the best possible outcomes from honey.

So, why should you care about raw honey?

Honey typically goes through significant processing, which includes exposure to high heat and also filtration.

• As a result, much of the honey in stores will be lacking in nutrients and will have fewer vitamins, minerals and enzymes than it should. Likewise, the filtration aspect also means that there isn't any pollen either.
• Because there are so many missing nutrients, honey processed in this way won’t have the same health benefits.

This is where raw honey comes in.

Generally speaking, raw honey will go through as little processing as possible. For example, some companies strain the honey (to remove chunks of beeswax and debris) and heat it slightly but that’s it.

The end result is that raw honey will tend to offer more benefits. And really, that just makes sense. After all, processed food is a significant problem in modern society and some of those issues are even true for honey.

Indeed, much of the research into honey has been conducted on raw honey, rather than processed alternatives.

There are many benefits specifically associated with honey and with raw honey. One of the most prominent is antimicrobial properties (8). This effect is true for all types of honey, but it is most significant in manuka and kanuka varieties (9).

Additionally, honey is often used as a way to combat issues such as sore throats, coughs and even the common cold itself (10,11,12).

The evidence supporting these effects may be somewhat limited but honey is still a good alternative to medication in many cases.

Honey has also been linked to treating burns and wounds (13,14,15,16), although the effectiveness is likely to vary depending on the specific wound in question.

If nothing else, the antimicrobial effects of honey may be relevant here.

Honey is also used in other ways, including externally. The polyphenols in honey may also help to decrease heart disease risk, although the connection is mostly theoretical at this stage (17).

If nothing else, honey certainly has more nutritional benefits than sugar and can be a much better option for a sweetener. Likewise, people often combine honey with other healthy choices, such as ginger, cinnamon and lemon.

One way of achieving this is in tea, although people tend to find their own solutions based on what they enjoy and need.