Determination of Rutin, Quercetin, Naringenin and Hesperetin in the Honey from Bosnia and Herzegovina (B & H) in Relation to the Composition of Pollen

Abstract

Today, consumers and producers makes more and more requests for determining the type of honey and its variety because its technological and medicinal qualities depends on the origin. There are many factors which affect on the quality of honey, but the most important is geographical and botanical origin of which largely depends on its medicinal properties. There are several methods of dealing with the classification of honey but the most accurate is pollen analysis with some other tests, such as pH, electrical conductivity and sensory properties. Flavonoids-as one of the most important group of plant secondary metabolites, can be found in honey and its number and amount directly dependents of the origin of honey. In this study, 48 honey samples were tested, of which 29 were pollen honey, 11 were mixed and 8 were honeydew. In all samples, regardless of the type of honey, quercetin and naringenin are found, and rutin and hesperetin are found in-between 36%-50% of honey samples. The largest individual and avarages amounts of tested flavonoids are found in the pollen honey and at least in the mixed honeys.