Physicochemical analysis of Spanish commercialEucalyptushoneys

Abstract

The physicochemical characteristics of 25 samples of commercial Eucalyptus honey (Eucalyptus sp.), bought off the shelf, were analysed and 35 parameters were measured, including contents of sugars and minerals, total nitrogen, proline, water content, pH, acidity, HMF, diastase activity, colour, ash, insoluble solids and electrical conductivity. The samples contained a mean of 18 pollen types (range 14-27); the 64% of samples which contained more than 70% Eucalyptus pollen were considered to be unifloral. In 92% of the samples, Eucalyptus was the most abundant pollen, at over 45% of total pollen found. Maturity, purity, deterioration and adulteration criteria indicated that the quality of the honeys was good. Samples that did not have a dominant percentage of Eucalyptus pollen showed low values for the length of the main wavelength in spectrophotometric analysis and very small concentrations of magnesium.

Physicochemical composition of Apis mellifera honey samples from São Paulo State, Brazil

“…Therefore, based on the law, it can be seen that the eucalyptus, wild, and orange honey samples in our experiment showed mean ash percentages below the allowed maximum, and thus conform to the regulations for good quality honey ( Table 1). The mean ash percentage in the eucalyptus honey samples analyzed was 0.16%; this value is a little lower than the 0.20% found in commercial eucalyptus honey samples from Spain 20 ; for wild honey, the mean obtained was 0.26%, while for orange honey the mean was 0.24%, a little higher than the 0.20% value observed in the Spain samples 20 . Twenty-one from 173 honey samples sold in the city of São Paulo, Brazil (36.2%) showed acidity values above the allowed limit 6 , while in the present work these values were 14.81% for eucalyptus honey, 2.34% for wild honey, and 2% for orange honey; these percentages are much lower than the 36.2% submitted by those authors.…”

Análise de agrupamento, com base na composição físico-química, de amostras de méis produzidos por Apis mellifera L. no Estado de São Paulo

“…A média de 1018,65µS cm 1 (331,00 a 1257,33) de condutividade elétrica para as amostras de méis de eucaliptos das diferentes localidades do Estado de São Paulo, pode ser considerada elevada, comparando com o valor médio de 448,60µS cm -1 , encontrado por GOMEZ et al [32], para amostras de méis comerciais de eucaliptos da Espanha. Já para méis silvestres foi observada uma média de 568,25µS cm -1 (160,71 a 1251,60).…”

“…A porcentagem média de cinzas das amostras de méis de eucaliptos analisadas foi de 0,16%, valor esse um pouco inferior aos 0,20% de amostras de méis comerciais de eucaliptos, encontradas na Espanha; enquanto para os méis silvestres a média obtida foi de 0,25% [32].…”

“…GOMEZ et al [32] obtiveram média de 285,60mg/kg de potássio em amostras de méis de eucaliptos da Espanha, teores esses inferiores às quantidades encontradas, nas amostras de méis, no presente experimento.…”

Comparison of Methods for Determining Moisture Content of Citrus and Eucalyptus Brazilian Honeys by Refractometry

“…Physical and chemical properties of honey produced in di!erent countries have been investigated in other studies, because the composition and properties of honey vary with botanical origin (Andrade et al, 1999;Guyot et al, 1999;Shing and Bath, 1997;Ferreres et al, 1996Ferreres et al, , 1994Ferreres et al, , 1993Gomez et al, 1993;BonhevmH , 1989).…”