What 'Raw' Mānuka Honey Actually Means - and How PURITI Achieves It

• 'Raw' has no legal definition on a New Zealand honey label, so printing it on a jar of raw Mānuka honey guarantees nothing on its own.

• PURITI packs every jar at a single New Zealand source and backs its honey with independent UMF and MPI testing, so its raw claim can be checked rather than just read.

Pick up almost any jar of Mānuka honey and one word tends to sit quietly under the brand name: raw. On a shelf or a product page, it does a lot of reassuring work without ever explaining itself. It suggests nothing has been done to the honey between the hive and your spoon, that what you're holding is exactly as nature made it.

But is that actually a guarantee, or just a word? If you've been comparing raw Mānuka honey from a handful of brands, you may already suspect it's not quite that simple. The truth is more specific, and more interesting, than a simple yes. 

'Raw' Isn’t a Regulated Word

'Raw' means something real, it just isn't the something most labels imply. Here's the part most labels leave out: in New Zealand, ‘raw’ has no legal definition when it comes to honey. Unlike Mānuka honey itself, which the government has spent years building a science-based definition for, or UMF, which is independently licensed and audited, the word 'raw' isn't checked by anyone before it goes on a jar. Any producer can print it, whether their honey has been warmed, fine-filtered, or left exactly as it came from the hive.

That doesn't make 'raw' meaningless. It means the claim rests entirely on the honesty of whoever put it on the label, rather than on any outside body confirming it's true. This is useful to know before you buy raw Mānuka honey, especially at a premium price point, because it changes the question worth asking. Instead of "does the label say raw?", the better question is "can this brand show me how it stays raw?"

It helps to know what an independently checked claim actually looks like, so you have something to compare it to. If you want to see how a rating gets verified rather than simply stated, our guide to  What's the Difference Between UMF™ and MGO? walks through exactly that, a Mānuka honey standard that is independently tested at every step.  New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries also sets out the labelling rules honey must follow, although 'raw' itself sits outside them for now.

What Raw, Unpasteurised and Unfiltered Actually Require

So then, what do raw, unpasteurised and unfiltered actually require? Each one describes a specific, checkable step in how honey is handled, not just a feeling.

Raw means the honey has never been heated beyond the temperature it naturally reaches inside the hive. No pasteurising, no processing shortcuts, just warmth from the bees themselves.

Unpasteurised honey means no high-heat treatment has been used afterwards, either. Some honey is heated to extend shelf life, thin its texture or make bottling faster and more convenient. That process can leave a jar labelled ‘raw unpasteurised honey’ even when it's been warmed well beyond anything a hive ever produces.

Unfiltered is often the most misunderstood of the three. Genuinely raw, unfiltered honey has been strained to remove wax fragments and bee debris, not ‘fine-filtered’ to strip out pollen and natural texture. It should still look and feel like honey: a little cloudy, a little textured, occasionally crystallised.

It's worth being aware that some honey on the market is warmed for bottling convenience, while still wearing the word ‘raw’ on its label. We’re not leveling an accusation at any one brand, it's simply a detail you should keep in mind before you compare ‘raw unpasteurised honey’ side by side on a shelf. The word alone won't tell you which jars have earned it and which haven't.

How PURITI Keeps Its Mānuka Honey Untouched, Hive to Jar

This is where PURITI's own process answers that question directly, rather than simply naming itself raw and hoping that's enough.

Once our extracted honey leaves the hive, it's held in large, sterile drums to avoid any contamination. From there, it's lightly churned to break up natural clumps and crystals, a gentle mechanical step that never involves heating and never affects the honey's MGO content. No high-heat treatment, no shortcuts for shelf life and no shortcuts for convenience.

Every jar of PURITI's raw Mānuka honey is also packed at a single source here in New Zealand, so what's in your jar can be traced directly back to how it was actually handled, rather than passed between facilities where that traceability gets harder to hold onto.

If you'd like the fuller picture of how our beekeepers work with remote, wild Mānuka hives before the honey ever reaches this stage, our article on how we harvest Mānuka honey walks through the sourcing and extraction process in detail. And if the people behind that process matter to you as much as the process itself,  Behind the Hive is worth a read too.

This is what ‘untouched’ is supposed to mean: honey that's been moved carefully, never heated and never handled anywhere besides a single, known source. It’s also worth checking out our Higher Testing Standards page to learn more about our checks behind every claim.

How to Tell If a 'Raw' Claim Is Actually Backed Up

So then, how do you actually determine an authentic ‘raw’ claim from a printed one? A few things are worth looking for.

When you're weighing up raw unfiltered honey against a dozen other jars, look for detail beyond the word itself. A brand that's genuinely confident in its process will usually explain how the honey was extracted, where it was packed and whether an accredited laboratory tests it independently, not internally.

Look for a second, verifiable layer alongside the raw claim. A genuine UMF licence number, issued by the Unique Mānuka Factor Honey Association, and compliance with MPI's Mānuka honey science definition will sit alongside a ‘raw’ claim as evidence that can actually be verified. Both are a good place to gain better clarity about the product you’re investigating.

If you'd like the fuller authenticity picture, our guide on  spotting fake Mānuka honey that in more depth.

Why PURITI Backs Every Claim With Independent Testing

PURITI packs and produces at a single New Zealand source, and every batch is independently tested by an accredited third-party laboratory (never marked by PURITI itself) against UMF certifications and MPI's Mānuka honey science definition. This separation matters: verification means little if the brand making the claim is also the one checking it.

This standard of testing is also why PURITI's honey keeps winning recognition for its products. At the  2026 London International Honey Awards, PURITI honey was awarded Gold for its UMF 31+ and Double Platinum for its UMF 20+ and 25+, judged blindly by an independent panel with no knowledge of which jar belonged to which brand. 

We hold strongly to the fact that our honey meets and exceeds the required New Zealand and UMF standards, and that every step behind that claim can be checked, not just taken on trust. If you're ready to taste the difference for yourself,  explore PURITI's raw unpasteurised Mānuka honey range and see the standard behind every jar.