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. 2021 Nov;58(11):4167-4177.
doi: 10.1007/s13197-020-04884-7. Epub 2020 Nov 6.

Quality of honeys from different botanical origins

Maria Cecília Evangelista Vasconcelos Schiassi  1 , Vanessa Rios de Souza  1 , Amanda Maria Teixeira Lago  1 , Gabriel Ribeiro Carvalho  1 , Paula Nogueira Curi  2 , Angélica Sousa Guimarães  1 , Fabiana Queiroz  1
Affiliations

Quality of honeys from different botanical origins

Maria Cecília Evangelista Vasconcelos Schiassi et al. J Food Sci Technol. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

Botanical origin is one of the principal factors influencing the composition and quality of honey. This study aimed to evaluate different single-flower (assa-peixe, coffee, eucalyptus, laranjeira, and vassourinha), polyfloral (silvestre), extrafloral (sugarcane), and honeydew (bracatinga) honeys with regard to their chemical, physicochemical, and physical properties; rheological behavior; bioactive compounds; and antioxidant activity. In addition, we assessed their sensory characteristics using the acceptance test and the check-all-that-apply test (CATA). All honeys were compliant with current legislation and presented Newtonian behavior. The honeys of assa-peixe, laranjeira, and coffee presented the highest viscosity, sugarcane honey showed the highest antioxidant activity, and the bracatinga honey had the highest phenolic compound content. With respect to sensory characteristics, floral honeys presented higher acceptability than did honeydew and extrafloral honeys, because honey from honeydew was negatively influenced by its bitter, alcoholic, and astringent taste and extrafloral honey by its burnt smell. These findings indicate that the botanical origin directly influences the characteristics of honeys and can be considered a factor for their differentiation.

Keywords: Antioxidant; CATA; Honey; Rheology; Sensory analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for the parameters chemical, physicochemical and physical of the different honeys. Soluble Solids (SS); Water activity (aw); Newtonian viscosity (μ); Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Relation between viscosity and shear rate of the different honeys described by the Newton Law model at 20 °C
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Three Way Internal Preference Map for color, smell, taste, consistency and overall liking (a) and correspondence analysis for check-all-that-apply (CATA) (b) of the different honeys. Legend: 1: yellow, 2: brown; 3: translucent; 4: bright; 5: sweet smell; 6: floral smell; 7: burned smell; 8: caramelized smell; 9: herbs smell; 10: propolis smell; 11: molasses smell; 12: sweet taste; 13: bitter taste; 14: fruity taste; 15: floral taste; 16: alcoholic taste; 17: propolis taste; 18: rapaduta taste; 19: herbs taste; 20: astringent taste; 21: liquid; 22: viscous; 23: velvety; 24: consistent
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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