Assessment of the Botanical Origin of Polish Honeys Based on Physicochemical Properties and Bioactive Components with Chemometric Analysis

Abstract

Is it possible to characterize the types of honey based on their chemical composition, their content of bioactive substances, and their physicochemical properties? The objective of this study was a comparative analysis of four types of honey from the Carpathian Foothills area, located in south-east Poland, based on the content of the main phenolic acids and proline, the mineral composition, and selected physicochemical properties. Most analyses, such as those of phenolic acids, sugars, and proline content, in honey samples were performed using chromatographic methods. These experiments demonstrated that honeydew honeys were the richest in phenolic acids, minerals, as well as oligosaccharides, compared to other honeys. Dark-colored honeys were characterized by the highest proline content. The dominant elements in all types of honey were potassium and calcium. The results of the present study show that analyses of specific phenolic acids, minerals, proline, and sugar content, in combination with chemometrics analysis, may successfully differentiate between the biological origins of honey samples and allow the preliminary verification of the samples before performing time-consuming pollen analysis.

The Use of HPTLC and SDS-PAGE Methods for Coniferous Honeydew Honey Fingerprinting Compiled with Mineral Content and Antioxidant Activity

“…The mean pH value of this tested bee product was 4.66 and was similar to the results for honeydew honeys presented by other authors: 4.63 [ 24 ], 4.60 [ 8 ] and 4.48 [ 27 ]. Honeydew honey is known to show higher average acidity and pH than floral honeys [ 6 ], which was also proven in the present study.…”

“…The F/G ratio calculated by Islam [ 50 ] based on the same technique was significantly higher as compared to the present study and reached 1.74 for multifloral and 1.50 and 1.79 for unspecified honeys. Similarly, the F/G ratio calculated based on the HPLC method indicates higher values than in present study [ 6 , 27 , 49 , 54 , 55 ]. Such discrepancies are probably because during the HPTLC separation, it is impossible to split fructose from melezitose peaks and as a consequence a broad, irregular fructose peak with a subtle melezitose hump is not exactly delineated.…”

“…Moreover, results have shown that raffinose and melezitose were specific for only honeydew honeys (they were present in mutlifloral honey only as traces). This means that the presence of melezitose and raffinose could be the marker of honeydew honey, which was proposed previously by other authors [ 3 , 27 , 49 ] by the HPLC method, but was not proved before using the HPTLC technique.…”

“…These results find a confirmation in the literature: for Bulgarian honeys, the specific rotation was determined at the level of −17 for acacia, −14.8 for multifloral and +4.2 for honeydew [ 35 ]. Tarapatskyy et al [ 27 ] obtained on average +2.85 for Podkarpackie honeydew honey, while for other varieties they tested a negative value.…”

Physicochemical Characterization and Biological Properties of Pine Honey Produced across Greece

“…Honey is a sweet, supersaturated solution of carbohydrates, composed of glucose, fructose, oligo- and polysaccharides, water, and other substances, such as proteins, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, phenolic compounds and amino acids that are of nutritional and health significance [ 1 ]. The chemical composition of honey and physicochemical parameters are variable and related to the botanical origin, geographic area and environmental conditions [ 2 , 3 ].…”