Our bees are collecting nectar and turning it into natural honey in temperate rain forest miles from any road, town, or industry. The summer winds wafting through these woods are warm, clean southerly winds which have travelled for thousands of miles across the Pacific and the wilds of Patagonia.

Our philosophy is to get that honey to you as close to its natural state as possible.

We do that by applying a thoughtfully developed extraction process. Our extraction plant is among the most modern in the world set in beautifully landscaped grounds.

To make sure we do not lose one drop of the forest honeys’ wonderful fragrances, taste, texture and nutritional qualities we extract the honey in its pure natural state - with the minimum of filtration and with no heat applied to it. The collection of the honey and the extraction process is an organic process using no chemicals or any form of additive.

Not only do we know that our honeys come from native forests where the air is pure but we have our honey regularly analysed by the Universidad Catolica de Chile. The honey team led by Professor Gloria Montenegro provided an official accreditation that our honey presents absolutely normal chemical parameters and is in order with all the established regulations.

The University also certifies that honey from Rio San Pedro has such a low concentration of heavy metal elements that they are at non detectable levels by AAS equipment used in their detection. This fact confirms the purity of our honey, as these elements are associated with the use of agrochemicals in the area of the hives or the proximity of the apiary to cities, urban centres or centres of industrial activity.

Our philosophy is to work with nature and to use only natural products to keep our bees in top condition. Healthy bees make lots of honey and thrive. It is as simple as that.

Timing is everything. The bees collect nectar (a sweet, fragrant liquid) from flowers and bring it back to the hive. On their flight back they add enzymes to the nectar and in the hives the nectar is deposited in the wax cells of the honey comb. At this stage the nectar is more than 85% water.

The young bees in the hives then evaporate this excess of moisture by fanning the nectar with their wings until there is less than 18% moisture in the honey. At this stage they cap the comb cells with wax. Only when the cells are capped by wax has the content of the comb become honey. It is at this point that we handpick the combs which are ready, so that we can harvest the honey in perfect condition.

If we harvest too early the over moist honey will ferment in the jar. If we harvest too late the honey will have crystallized (solidified) in the wax cells and the only way to extract it is to heat it. Doing this would guarantee that many of the special properties of the honey would be lost

It is in this window, when the honey is perfect, that we are able to select it so that it neither ferments, nor do we have to heat it. This is one of the fundamental arts of bee keeping so that we can get the honey to you in a perfect, pure condition.

Nearly all honeys will crystallize, some very rapidly, such as rape seed oil honey, and some slowly. Chilean rain forest honeys crystallize relatively slowly from an amber liquid to a buttery colour. Our aim is to see our honey crystallizes smoothly so that it is pleasant on the palate. The secret is to ensure that:

• our honey has a low moisture content
• we have filtered it to take out any pieces of wax but left the pollen that has fallen into the honey when the bee is depositing its nectar as the honey will crystallize smoothly around these pollen grains
• we bottle or decant the honey into drums to export as soon as it is harvested and maintain it at a cool temperature so that the process of crystallization is a smooth one

The Universidad Catolica de Chile has also analysed the honey for a chemical called HMF (Hydroxymethylfurfural) which is a break-down product of fructose. The presence of HMF indicates that the honey is old or has been heated during the extraction process. The concentration of HMF in the honey of Rio San Pedro Miel is only 0.6 ppm (parts per million), well below the accepted level of 40 ppm.

We use no form of heat during the extraction process. The only heat it comes into contact with is that of the natural temperature found inside the hive. We always come back to the principal that we want to get our honey to you in its fully natural state.

Heat also damages the natural and beneficial enzymes that occur in honey. These enzymes help in the digestion of the honey and in its positive medical characteristics.

We apply rigorous standards to hygiene and cleanliness within our harvesting plant. To enter the plant our team put on their harvest suits, their hats and special white boots. They pass through a clean room where they scrub up, then walk through a disinfectant foot bath and put on their face masks. Our team is proud of their work and is dedicated to ensuring that you get our honey in its purist possible state.

Some beekeepers use ultra-filtration to remove every tiny particle from the honey. The result is a uniform product but one from which much of the goodness has been removed. Our straining is a very simple nylon filter which allows pollen grains, propolis and wax to pass through thus maintaining the important nutrients and medicinal properties of the honey.

As we pay attention to every detail throughout the extraction process, we are able to offer you a smooth, pure, aromatic and tasty honey. Every time you dip into the jar and taste Rio San Pedro's honey you are reminded of warm summer days when the bees are out working, when life is easy and everything feels good. All these good memories are in one spoonful of our honey.

From start to finish the extraction process guarantees that the honey of Rio San Pedro is as close to its natural state it has when it first harvested from the bee hive.