Just Kids. Honey: Why We Made It (Matt's Story)

Just Kids. Honey exists because we looked at what was available for children and realised the market was full of products that looked like honey but weren't held to any meaningful standard. We already had the most rigorously tested honey in the country. The logical step was to make one specifically for children — using the exact same standard, with no compromises.

Key Points

• Just Kids. Honey came from a gap in the market: most "kids honey" products lacked transparency, purity, and proper testing
• Forest Fresh Honey's five-generation heritage meant the quality standard was already there — it just needed applying to a children's product
• Same lab testing standard as the adult Jarrah range: five independent validations per batch
• 100% pure WA honey, no additives — the same commitment that has defined Forest Fresh since 1916
• WA's Varroa-free status means every drop of Just Kids. Honey comes from some of the world's healthiest bees

There is a particular feeling that comes with being a parent in this industry.

You know honey intimately. You know what pure honey looks like, smells like, tastes like. You know how to read a lab report. You know what "honey blend" actually means and why it appears on labels that look, to a casual reader, like straightforward honey.

And when you become a parent — or when the children in your family reach the age where honey is part of what you feed them — all of that knowledge starts to create a very specific kind of frustration.

Because most of the honey on supermarket shelves, including the options with cheerful cartoon labels positioned at child height, don't meet the standard you'd apply to your own family's jar.

That's where Just Kids. Honey began.

The Gap We Couldn't Ignore

The Australian honey market for children is filled with two types of products. The first is standard commercial honey — blended from multiple origins, often including imported honey, ultra-filtered to remove pollen and bioactive compounds, sometimes mixed with glucose syrup, and rarely tested beyond the minimum required by food standards.

The second is premium honey — single-origin, minimally processed, independently tested — but often positioned as an adult product, with adult branding and adult price points, and no specific thought given to children's everyday use.

What didn't exist was a product that combined genuine purity, real independent testing, child-appropriate positioning, and transparency about what was actually in the jar.

We already had all the infrastructure to make that product. We had the beekeeping relationships, the packing facility in Bentley, the lab testing protocols, and a century of understanding what Australian honey can be at its best.

The question was simply: do we do this?

For us, the answer was obvious.

Five Generations of Not Cutting Corners

The Fewster family's involvement in Western Australian honey began in 1916. My great-great-grandfather John Fewster established his first hives in Muchea — a small town north of Perth that sits in the middle of some of WA's most productive honey country. He began with 12 hives.

Five generations later, Forest Fresh Honey is part of Australia's largest collective of independent commercial beekeepers and packers. We've validated over 200 tonnes of honey. We have 4.9-star reviews across more than 500 customer reviews. Our Jarrah Platinum TA50+ is equivalent to MGO 4000+ — the highest grade Manuka equivalent on the market.

That didn't happen by accident. It happened because each generation applied the same basic principle: don't put your name on something unless you know exactly what's in it and you're prepared to stand behind it.

That principle doesn't change when the product is for children. If anything, it matters more.

🍯 Meet Just Kids. Honey — Pure WA Honey for Children 12m+ The same Forest Fresh standard. Made with children front of mind. Shop Just Kids. Honey →

What "The Same Standard" Actually Means

When we say Just Kids. Honey is held to the same standard as our Jarrah range, this is specifically what that means:

Five independent laboratory validations per batch. Every production batch of Just Kids. Honey is tested across five separate accredited laboratories. This is not a single test from a single facility — it's a multi-point validation process that covers purity, bioactive compound levels, authenticity, and food safety.

Jarrah Factor™ quality standard. Our proprietary quality framework, developed over generations of working with WA honey, applies to Just Kids. Honey as it does to every Forest Fresh product.

Crystallisation-Free Guarantee™. Pure honey crystallises. It's a natural process and a sign of genuine honey — but it can be inconvenient, especially for children who resist texture changes. Our packing process ensures Just Kids. Honey remains smooth and spreadable.

100% traceable WA origin. Just Kids. Honey is not blended with honey from other states or other countries. Every jar is traceable back to the WA hives it came from.

No additives, no exceptions. There is no glucose syrup. There are no preservatives. There are no added flavours. Just Kids. Honey contains one ingredient: honey.

This is not how most children's honey products are made. It is how ours is.

The WA Advantage for Children

One of the reasons we're confident in the quality of Just Kids. Honey — and one of the reasons Western Australian honey is genuinely special — is that WA is the last major honey-producing region in Australia free from Varroa mite infestation.

Varroa destructor is a parasitic mite that devastates bee colonies and has reached all other Australian states. To manage Varroa, beekeepers use chemical treatments — treatments that can leave trace residues in honey. WA's geographic isolation has protected us from Varroa, meaning WA bees don't require the same chemical management that bees elsewhere do.

The result is honey from some of the world's healthiest bees, produced in a region with no Varroa pressure. For a product designed for children, this matters.

When you give a child Just Kids. Honey, you're giving them honey from a genuinely clean, pristine beekeeping environment — not because we've filtered it to hide any issues, but because the issues aren't there to begin with.

Hearing From Parents Along the Way

As we developed Just Kids. Honey, we talked to parents — not in a formal research context, but in the natural way that happens when you're part of a community and people know what you do.

The themes that came up consistently were:

"I don't actually know what's in most of the honey I'm buying." Parents were buying honey because they believed it was wholesome, without necessarily having a way to verify that belief. The word "honey" on a label didn't mean pure honey.

"I tried to give my toddler the premium honey but it felt a bit much — the branding wasn't for us." The premium honey market, including our own Jarrah range, is positioned at adult consumers. The price points, the packaging, the language — it's not designed for someone packing a lunchbox.

"I want a honey habit for my kids, not a medicinal event." Parents wanted a daily-use product, not something they reached for only when a child was unwell. Practical, everyday, part of the routine.

Just Kids. Honey is our answer to all three of those observations. It's pure, it's tested, it's transparent — and it's positioned for what it actually is: a wholesome everyday food for children.

A Note on Transparency

We're going to be straightforward about something: Just Kids. Honey is not a bioactive medicinal honey. It's not Jarrah TA50+. It doesn't carry the antimicrobial activity rating of our premium Jarrah range.

What it is, is pure WA honey — wholesome, prebiotic-rich (research by Schell et al., 2022 supports Jarrah honey's prebiotic properties), naturally lower GI than refined sugar (Arcot & Brand-Miller, 2005), and independently verified. It's a food product, not a medicine. We wouldn't have it any other way.

We believe parents deserve that kind of honesty about what they're buying for their children. The market for children's products is full of overclaimed, undersupported assertions. We're not interested in participating in that.

Just Kids. Honey is what it says it is. That's the standard this family has held for five generations, and it's the standard we'll hold for however many generations come next.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is Just Kids. Honey a different formula from your adult honey? A: Just Kids. Honey is 100% pure WA honey, made with children's everyday use in mind. It's mild, pure, and additive-free. It's not a Jarrah honey with the same TA bioactive rating as our premium adult range — but it meets the same standards for purity, testing, and traceability.

Q: Why did Forest Fresh Honey launch a children's product? A: Because the market for children's honey lacked transparency and genuine testing standards. We had the infrastructure and the commitment to do it properly — so we did. Just Kids. Honey gives parents a children's honey with the same level of verification they'd expect from a premium adult product.

Q: What is the Forest Fresh Honey heritage? A: The Fewster family has been involved in Western Australian honey since 1916. John Fewster started with 12 hives in Muchea, WA. Five generations later, Forest Fresh Honey is part of Australia's largest collective of independent commercial beekeepers and packers. Matt Fewster is a 5th generation packer and supplier.

Q: Is Just Kids. Honey organic? A: Just Kids. Honey is pure, additive-free Western Australian honey. It is not certified organic — organic certification is a specific and costly accreditation process. What we can tell you is what is in the jar (pure WA honey, nothing else) and what is not (no additives, no glucose syrup, no imported blends).

Q: Does Forest Fresh Honey give Just Kids. Honey the same lab testing as your Jarrah range? A: Yes. Five independent laboratory validations per batch — the same rigorous testing protocol as our Jarrah Platinum TA50+. Testing covers purity, authenticity, and food safety. We don't apply a relaxed standard to children's products.

Q: What age is Just Kids. Honey designed for? A: Children 12 months and older. Honey is never appropriate for infants under 12 months due to the risk of infant botulism. After 12 months, Just Kids. Honey is suitable for everyday use in age-appropriate amounts.

Q: Where can I buy Just Kids. Honey? A: Just Kids. Honey is available online at forestfreshhoney.com.au. We ship from Perth, WA, with free shipping on orders over $120.

🍯 Five generations of quality. Now for your children. Shop Just Kids. Honey → Read: At What Age Can Kids Start Eating Honey?

The information in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or health condition. Please consult your healthcare professional before using honey as part of a health or medical regimen. Forest Fresh Honey products are food products, not medicines. Not suitable for children under 12 months. These statements are based on traditional use and emerging scientific research.

Honey is not suitable for children under 12 months due to the risk of infant botulism. All Forest Fresh Honey products are intended for children 12 months and older.

Written by Matt Fewster, 5th generation of the Fewster family and co-founder of Forest Fresh Honey.

Sources: - Schell et al. (2022), Frontiers in Nutrition — Prebiotic properties of Jarrah honey: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9367972/ - Arcot & Brand-Miller (2005), RIRDC — Glycaemic index of honey: https://www.agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/publications/05-027.pdf - Irish, Blair, Carter (2011), PLOS ONE — Antibacterial activity of WA honey: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0018229 - Islam, Barbour, Locher (2024), PeerJ — Honey authentication: https://peerj.com/articles/achem-33/ - Hossain & Locher (2023), Applied Sciences — WA honey vs Manuka: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/13/7440