Visiting R Stephens Honey, Mole Creek

The honey shot: tastings are laidback at R Stephens.

When I was a kid leatherwood honey was a luxurious thing. Sometimes on toast, in a cake if you were lucky but always from Mole Creek, a mystical place that could have burrowed out of Wind in the Willows. Leatherwood came in a rectangular jar (they call it the tourist jar in Tasmania) or in a can like a relic from another time. The taste is flowery and sweet, too sweet for some but it is an exclusively Tasmanian delicacy thanks to the leatherwood flowers which feature on the jar. Recently we went to the source to try leatherwood honey fresh from the hive in the tiny town of Mole Creek.

Who is R Stephens?

First the backstory. Mr Robert Stephens had his hobby of beekeeping interrupted by World War I when he went off to serve in the 12th Battalion. When he returned from the war he went pro, buying the land on Mole Creek's mainstreet Pioneer Drive and setting up his apiary. Stephens set up hives across Tasmania in the following years on treacherous roads and in Tasmania's wilderness. 

In the 1960s they began to produce leatherwood honey which grew popular in health food stores. When the business was handed over to son Ian Stephens, it really took off with more hives in a larger territory with the transporting of hives on the West Coast Wilderness Railway to find the best flowers. By 2019 they had hives in world heritage sites keeping the bees buzzing and contributing to the biodiveristy but bushfires have threatened the leatherwood shrub and had an impact on honey production.

R Stephens is still a family business, run by the grandsons of the original Stephens. When we visited we heard that one brother had just retired, leaving us wondering who was in line for the sweet succession. The core products are still the same - Golden Bee and Leatherwood honeys in candied, creamed or regular liquid varieties. When I asked how many bees they had, they said "over 200 million and I know the names of all of them."

Why is Leatherwood such a big deal?

Shelves of hives with coloured variety reserved for queens only.

Leatherwood shrubs (known by the latin name Eucryphia lucida) are found only in Tasmania's wild west, many only surviving in national parks. It is one of the few honeys that is monofloral (or made from a single flower) so it is already very rare. Recently leatherwood was found by the University of Tasmania to have 12 compounds that make it unique and extremely hard to mimic if you were thinking of getting into counterfeit honey. There's even a plan to create a special test for leatherwood's authenticity like New Zealand's manuka honey.

Just like manuka, leatherwood honey has health benefits including having high levels of antioxidants and may even be good for gut health. According to retailer Beauty and the Bees, a little leatherwood in your tea could fend off heart disease and arthritis, plus they reckon the high vitamin B content makes it a good hangover cure. Well it has always been the argument for day-after Vegemite so why not.

Where is R Stephens Honey?

The factory door for R Stephens Honey is on the main street on Mole Creek and they open 9am-4pm weekdays.

Make a beeline: you've found the hive of this industry.

This is part of the Local Legends series, which calls out some places that I reckon evoke a unique place or time and really matter to people who live there. They're very subjective and totally personal so you may not like any of them.