The PHBS Score

What is PHBS?

"Not all honey is what it claims to be. The global honey market is flooded with diluted, blended, and mislabelled products that bear little resemblance to what nature intended. We created the PHBS — the Pine Honey Bioactive Score — to change that.

Every batch of Pinuka honey is independently laboratory tested across a comprehensive set of quality markers: bioactive compound concentration, antioxidant levels, mineral content, moisture levels, pollen and honeydew origin verification, and the absence of any additives or adulterants.

The results are converted into a single, transparent score. The higher the score, the purer, richer, and more exceptional the honey. A score above 100 is extraordinarily rare — reserved for harvests that nature delivers only once in several seasons.

With PHBS, you never have to take our word for it. The score speaks for itself."

The Following are some of the tests that we conduct to calculate the PHBS score.

Purity & Authenticity

  • Honeydew content (C4 sugar test)
  • Pollen analysis — confirms botanical and geographic origin
  • Isotope ratio analysis — detects adulteration or sugar syrup addition
  • HMF (Hydroxymethylfurfural) — measures freshness and heat exposure

Bioactive & Nutritional

  • Total antioxidant capacity (DPPH/FRAP tests)
  • Phenolic compound concentration
  • Enzyme activity (Diastase, Invertase) — indicates raw, unprocessed honey
  • Mineral content (potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron)

Physical Properties

  • Moisture content — affects shelf life and fermentation risk
  • Electrical conductivity — key indicator of honeydew vs floral honey
  • Colour and viscosity grading
  • pH and acidity levels

Microbiological

  • Yeast count
  • Absence of antibiotics or pesticide residues
  • Heavy metal screening

 

THE PINUKA GRADING SYSTEM Every jar of Pinuka pine honey carries a PHBS score — an independently verified number that tells you exactly what is in your jar. Here is what each grade means:

A- ENTRY | PHBS 20–39 "Good honey, honestly scored." Our Entry grade meets Pinuka's fundamental quality standard — pure, wild-harvested, and additive-free. It outperforms the vast majority of commercial honeys on the market. A genuine Turkish pine honey at an accessible starting point.

B- STANDARD | PHBS 40–59 "Quality you can taste every day." A noticeably richer, more mineral-forward honey than Entry grade. Standard batches come from forests performing consistently well, delivering deeper flavour and higher bioactive content without compromise. The reliable choice for daily use.

C- PREMIUM | PHBS 60–79 "Where exceptional begins." Premium grade marks a significant step up in purity, antioxidant concentration, and flavour complexity. These are batches from forests at their best — harvested in seasons where conditions align to produce something genuinely extraordinary. Once you taste Premium, ordinary honey loses its appeal.

D- RESERVE | PHBS 80–99 "Rare by nature. Verified by science." Reserve batches occur only when forest conditions, bee activity, and seasonal timing converge perfectly. Rich in bioactive compounds, deeply complex in flavour, and available in strictly limited quantities each season. Not every year produces a Reserve harvest — when it does, we jar every drop.

E- ELITE | PHBS 100+ "The forest at its absolute finest." A score above 100 is extraordinarily rare. Elite grade represents the pinnacle of what Turkish pine forests can produce — an exceptional convergence of purity, bioactive richness, and flavour that occurs only once in several seasons. When our laboratory returns a score above 100, we treat it with the reverence it deserves. Limited to the smallest quantities we offer. Irreplaceable until nature decides otherwise.

"At Pinuka, no jar leaves our hands without a score. Because honey this rare deserves to be proven — not just promised."