If you’ve browsed the aisles of high-end grocery stores like Whole Foods lately, you may have noticed jars of manuka honey—an increasingly popular monofloral honey derived from the Manuka bush native to New Zealand. What sets Manuka honey apart is its unusually high concentration of methylglyoxal, a compound believed to give the honey antibacterial and wound-healing properties. In recent years, it has surged in popularity, touted by health and wellness influencers as a superfood staple. However, Manuka honey doesn’t come cheap—and spotting counterfeits, even those sold unknowingly, can be surprisingly difficult.
