Sidr honey vs Manuka honey: how the two actually taste

Yemeni Sidr honey (jujube) and Manuka from New Zealand are the two names that come up whenever rare honey is mentioned. Yet their trades, their sensory profiles and their traditions have almost nothing in common. One comes from the age-old aridity of the Arabian Peninsula, the other from a New Zealand industry born in the 1980s. Comparing them is less about picking a winner than about seeing that two worlds can coexist without overlapping.

The head to head table

Yemeni Sidr honey is born in the semi-desert valleys of the Hadhramaut, in south-east Yemen. Arid climate, wild Sidr trees scattered across the land, nomadic beekeeping that follows the flowering on the back of a donkey. The tradition is very old and barely touched by modern methods. Manuka is born on the New Zealand North Island, in a temperate ocean climate, in cultivated or wild stands of Leptospermum scoparium. That trade is modern, organised from the 1980s onwards around the work of the Honey Research Unit at Waikato University.

Our Yemeni Sidr honey is checked by pollen analysis (43% Ziziphus pollen) and a moisture reading (14.2%), set out in CETAM report M253022, which we publish. Pollen analysis confirms where the honey comes from botanically. There is no single international grading system for this honey: each house builds its own chain of checks. Manuka uses UMF, the Unique Manuka Factor, and MGO, methylglyoxal, a system standardised by the UMF Honey Association. UMF 5+, 10+, 15+, 20+ and 25+ correspond to rising concentrations of the compound specific to manuka. That standardisation is what allowed manuka to industrialise and to gain international recognition so quickly.

Yemeni Sidr honey opens on woody, resinous notes, with echoes of toasted dried fruit, and ends on a long finish carrying a noble bitterness. It is a honey you listen to: it takes its time to open out in the mouth. Manuka attacks on sharp herbaceous notes, dry leaves, deep earth. The finish is shorter but more intense, closer to bitter herbs than to sugar. Two sensory experiences that never overlap.

This is the sharpest difference of all. Output from the valleys of the Hadhramaut is small, and no reliable public statistics exist for it. Exporting is constrained by the geopolitical situation in Yemen, which makes every available jar a rare object. New Zealand, for its part, exports thousands of tonnes of manuka a year. Manuka UMF 20+ remains expensive (300-800 €/kg), but it is widely available through specialist channels worldwide.

Yemeni Sidr honey remains a small production with no reliable public figures, set against the thousands of tonnes of Manuka exported every year. Manuka is better known commercially thanks to its standardised UMF index, which makes it easier to buy with confidence if you do not know the subject. For a palate after woody nobility, Yemeni Sidr honey; for a palate after a sharp herbaceous profile, Manuka. The choice is not about quality: it is about taste.

Yemen · Hadhramaut

Yemeni Sidr Honey From 39,90 € / jar

One of the last nomadic beekeeping trades of the Arab world. Wild Sidr trees from Wadi Do'an, a woody, resinous profile and a long noble finish. 250 g jar, signature presentation box and wooden spoon.

Discover Yemeni Sidr Honey

Going further

• Yemeni Sidr honey: the complete guide
• Sidr honey vs acacia honey
• The seven rarest honeys in the world
• Why rare honey costs between 30 € and 1 000 €/kg