A round peg in a square hole is sweet business for Limestone Coast’s Humbugz Honey.
The judges of the 11th South Australian Premier’s Food Awards deemed it “a product of high quality and elegant floral flavours,” - but they weren’t talking about a wine.
Instead, they were referring to Humbugz Honey’s ‘Honeycomb Round,’ a frame of fresh, pure honeycomb filled with a fragrant, light-coloured honey with soft citrus flavours.
With its exceptional packaging, complementary branding and unique point of difference, the judges deemed it a standout winner in the San Remo New Product Award category.
The accolades are music to the ears of Frances and David Curkpatrick, who established Humbugz Honey in 2004.
The Kingston South-East business started by selling bulk honey, but soon expanded to offer six premium honeys, a range of Belgium chocolates with honey centres, and the new Honeycomb Round, which was launched in March 2008.
The product is believed to be the first domestically-produced round honeycomb to be marketed in Australia.
Frances believes the key to the product’s success is its naturalness.
“The honeycomb round is almost untouched during the production process,” she explained.
“We just place the empty round in the hives and let the bees do the rest.”
Humbugz Honey produced 600 rounds of honeycomb in 2008 and is aiming to produce 1400 rounds this year.
“The key challenges we faced along the development path was finding the right frames, getting the bees to cooperate and taking on the risk of developing a new product. Fortunately, our efforts have paid off.”
Humbugz Honey products are available in gourmet stores nationally, including Gourmet to Go at the Adelaide Central Market and Icons at the Adelaide Airport.
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Contact
Frances Curkpatrick
p +61 8 8767 2972
m +61 408 854 466
e humbugzhoney@bigpond.com