WHEN we are shopping for our groceries, we will no doubt walk down the aisles which offer a wide range of jams, conserves and honey – but what type of honey do you buy?

If you pick a jar of honey from rows and rows of similar jars in a supermarket, then you are most likely to be choosing a product mostly produced from blends.

Good-quality honey comes directly from the beehive which has not been processed or altered.

The problem is that this high-quality honey is often in short supply, and will be much more expensive.

This pure honey has antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory properties and is the type of product which has been used in traditional remedies for thousands of years.

The good news is that Irish honey – especially honey from heather pollen – has antioxidant properties which are comparable to New Zealand’s famed (and more expensive) Manuka honey, according to research by Dublin City University and Trinity College Dublin.

The research team found there was a similar overall presence of powerful antioxidants called 'phenolic compounds' in Irish heather honey as in Manuka honey.

These antioxidant compounds help to prevent damage occurring in the cells of the body, and are important for health and well-being.

Researchers also found that multi-floral honeys produced by urban bees had a greater level of antioxidant phenolic compounds than their rural counterparts – a finding possibly attributed to the flower diversity and abundance of surrounding hives.

The findings are published in the prestigious journal, Food Chemistry.

The research was led by PhD student Saorla Kavanagh, School of Chemical Sciences, and DCU Water Institute, and supervised by senior academics Dr. Blánaid White, School of Chemical Sciences, DCU, and Professor Jane Stout, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin.

Funding was provided by the Irish Research Council, and honey samples were donated by beekeepers across Ireland.

The research focused on honey produced in Ireland and examined the phenolic content and physicochemical parameters (moisture, total sugar, colour) of different types of Irish honey, and compared these with international brands.

It was also the first ever comparison of Irish single-origin honeys; heather, ivy and oilseed rape and multi-floral honeys and, in addition, compared honey from urban and rural hives.

The key findings were obtained from 131 Irish honey samples collected from beekeepers representing 78 locations across Ireland over a two-year period.

Most of these were described as multi-floral honeys, three were heather honeys, two were ivy honey, and two were honey from oilseed rape.

It was established that honey of a dark honey typically had a higher Total Phenolic Content.

Summarising the results, Dr. White said: “Being able to quantify that Irish honeys have a high phenolic content, and particularly that the content in Irish heather honey is comparable to Manuka honey, is very exciting for us.

"Our research shows that Irish honey is a high-quality product and something that we should really value. Interest in beekeeping and honey production is growing in Ireland, and we are delighted to be able to support it.”

Prof. Stout said: “Because bees can forage up to several kilometres from their hives, the availability of food sources, i.e. flowers, in the wider landscape influences what the bees collect and incorporate into their honey.

"Finding a difference in honey composition between urban and rural hives probably reflects the difference in flower availability in urban and rural areas in Ireland.”

Some beekeepers would like to see a greater diversity of plants in the countryside, but that may well be a discussion between beekeepers, landowners, farmers and gardeners.

With new future support payments for farmers likely to be based more on environmental factors, perhaps the number of our flowering plants in our rural areas may increase, giving even more choice for bees to forage.