Volatile Profile of Portuguese Monofloral Honeys: Significance in Botanical Origin Determination

Abstract

The volatile profiles of 51 samples from 12 monofloral-labelled Portuguese honey types were assessed. Honeys of bell heather, carob tree, chestnut, eucalyptus, incense, lavender, orange, rape, raspberry, rosemary, sunflower and strawberry tree were collected from several regions from mainland Portugal and from the Azores Islands. When available, the corresponding flower volatiles were comparatively evaluated. Honey volatiles were isolated using two different extraction methods, solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and hydrodistillation (HD), with HD proving to be more effective in the number of volatiles extracted. Agglomerative cluster analysis of honey HD volatiles evidenced two main clusters, one of which had nine sub-clusters. Components grouped by biosynthetic pathway defined alkanes and fatty acids as dominant, namely n-nonadecane, n-heneicosane, n-tricosane and n-pentacosane and palmitic, linoleic and oleic acids. Oxygen-containing monoterpenes, such as cis- and trans-linalool oxide (furanoid), hotrienol and the apocarotenoid α-isophorone, were also present in lower amounts. Aromatic amino acid derivatives were also identified, namely benzene acetaldehyde and 3,4,5-trimethylphenol. Fully grown classification tree analysis allowed the identification of the most relevant volatiles for discriminating the different honey types. Twelve volatile compounds were enough to fully discriminate eleven honey types (92%) according to the botanical origin.

Unassisted and Carbon Dioxide-Assisted Hydro- and Steam-Distillation: Modelling Kinetics, Energy Consumption and Chemical and Biological Activities of Volatile Oils

“…Gas chromatography (GC) and Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses were performed according to that previously reported by Machado et al [ 62 ] and ISO 7609 [ 63 ].…”

HPLC‐DAD Analysis and Versatile Bioactivities of Turkish Sunflower Honeys Using Chemometric Approaches

“…When SH is first harvested, it is bright yellow, fragrant, pollen-flavoured, slightly herbaceous and has a unique taste. [15,16] Based on the literature, there are studies on SHs showing physicochemical properties, [17] total phenolic and flavonoid contents, [18] volatile compounds, [19] phenolic profiles, [20,21] and biological activities such as antimicrobial, [22] antioxidant, [23] anticancer, [24] and tyrosinase enzyme inhibition. [25] However, scientific studies on the chemical content and biological activities of SH, which has the potential to be produced in high quality in Turkey, have not been detailed yet.…”

Simultaneous qualitative and quantitative analyses of volatile components in Chinese honey of six botanical origins using headspace solid‐phase microextraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

“…Previous studies of volatile components in honey focused mainly on relatively quantitative studies using the methods of peak area normalization 23 or internal standards 24 . There are few reports on the absolute quantitative analysis of volatile components in honey.…”