Main European unifloral honeys: descriptive sheets1 · Main European unifloral honeys: descriptive...

38Apidologie 35 (2004) S38–S81© INRA/DIB-AGIB/ EDP Sciences, 2004DOI: 10.1051/apido:2004049

Main European unifloral honeys: descriptive sheets1

Livia PERSANO ODDOa*, Roberto PIROb

with the collaboration of:Étienne BRUNEAU, Christine GUYOT-DECLERCK (Belgium); Tzeko IVANOV

(Bulgaria); Ji ina PIŠKULOVÁ (Czech Republic); Christian FLAMINI, Joel LHERITIER, Monique MORLOT (France); Harald RUSSMANN, Werner VON DER OHE,

Katharine Von der OHE (Germany); Panagiota GOTSIOU, Sophia KARABOURNIOTI, Panagiotis KEFALAS, Maria PASSALOGLOU-KATRALI, Andreas THRASYVOULOU,

Angeliki TSIGOURI (Greece); Gian Luigi MARCAZZAN, Maria Lucia PIANA, Maria Gioia PIAZZA, Anna Gloria SABATINI (Italy); Jacob KERKVLIET (Netherlands); Joana GODINHO (Portugal); Antonio BENTABOL, Alberto ORTIZ VALBUENA (Spain),

Stefan BOGDANOV, Kaspar RUOFF (Switzerland)

a Istituto Sperimentale per la Zoologia Agraria, Sezione di Apicoltura, Roma, Italyb Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell’Emilia Romagna, Brescia, Italy

(Received 20 February 2004; revised 11 May 2004; accepted 17 May 2004)

unifloral honey / Europe / physicochemical characteristics / melissopalynology / sensory characteristics /database

rŠ

1. INTRODUCTION

In Europe more than 100 botanical speciesare known to produce unifloral honey (PersanoOddo et al., 2004). Most of them are producedoccasionally or are only of local interest, whereasothers are part of the import-export marketbetween different European countries.

In the International Honey Commissionof Apimondia (IHC), a working group wasconstituted in 1998, with the participation of28 researchers specialized in honey analysisfrom 20 different laboratories (11 countries),with the aim of collecting analytical data relatedto the main European unifloral honeys and ofelaborating them to provide the quality criteriafor each important honey type.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1. Data bank

The list of members of the IHC participating in theworking group is integrally reported in the onlineversion (Appendix5.pdf). They provided the informa-tion and the analytical data available in the respectivelaboratories, related to physicochemical, organolep-tic and melissopalynological parameters of a numberof authentic unifloral samples (participants wereresponsible for the authenticity of unifloral samples).

More than 61 000 raw data were supplied, relatedto 6719 honey samples produced in 21 countries ofthe European geographical area, and analysed formore than 30 physicochemical parameters.

For the characterisation work, 15 honey typeswere selected, as the most important in terms ofabundance of production or commercial relevance inEuropean countries. Among the set of parameters,

1 Research carried out in the frame of the Italian national program of the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole,CE Regulation 1221/97.* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S39

the most representative and most often used werechosen for describing the European unifloral honeys(Tab. I). Possible extra parameters characteristic forsome honey types are quoted in the single descriptivesheets. In Table II the selected honey types with therespective number of samples and analytical data arereported.

Data were transferred in a normalised database(MS Access 97). In several cases (about 3%) dataneeded to be converted in terms of units of measure-ment. More than 54% of samples reported the yearof production and/or analysis: the total range of yearsis between 1970 and 2002, but more than 90% of datawere produced in the period 1990–2002.

Before the inclusion in the data bank, the datawere verified and compared with the internationalstandards, in order to avoid the inclusion of irregularhoneys. Figure 1 shows the behaviour of water andHMF content respectively.

After this first check, mean, standard deviation,minimum and maximum values were calculated foreach honey type and for each parameter. Then, acomparison between results of the different labora-tories was carried out (F-test of data). In Figure 2 anexample is presented related to the distribution ofelectrical conductivity of Robinia honey: data of the

total sampling are compared with those from differ-ent laboratories. Generally, a very good agreementwas found among laboratories. When results of a sin-gle laboratory were not in agreement with the others,they were discussed in the working group, to identifythe possible source of the difference (analyticalmethod or error): if the differences could not beexplained, they are reported or commented on in therespective descriptive sheets.

Finally, in order to show up possible errors, othergeneral controls were performed, like the generalbehaviour of the parameters, the sum of main com-ponents (no more than 100%), etc.

After the above-mentioned selections the totalnumber of used data was 46 181 related to 5481 honeysamples (respectively 76% and 81% of original datareceived).

For each single parameter the average values, stand-ard deviation and confidence intervals at 95% werecalculated for each honey type.

2.2. Analytical methods

The physico chemical methods, used for the honeycharacterisation are those of the IHC (Bogdanovet al., 1997). The values of the electrical conductivity

Table I. List of parameters selected for thedescription of European unifloral honeys.

Sensory analysis

Visual

Olfactory

Taste

Melissopalynologicalanalysis

Qualitative

Quantitative

Physicochemicalanalysis

Colour

Electrical conductivity

Specific rotation

Water

Diastase

Invertase

Proline

pH

Free acidity

Lactones

Total acidity

Fructose

Glucose

Sucrose

Fructose + Glucose (F+G)

Fructose/Glucose ratio (F/G)

Glucose/Water ratio (G/W)

Table II. Number of samples and analytical datacollected for each of the 15 honey types chosen.

HONEY TYPESNo. of

samplesNo. of ana-lytical data

Brassica napus L. and “turnip rape”

715 5939

Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull 219 1468

Castanea sativa Miller 495 4834

Citrus spp. 299 2555

Eucalyptus spp. 208 1692

Helianthus annuus L. 358 3312

Lavandula spp. 261 2041

Rhododendron spp. 139 1495

Robinia pseudacacia L. 715 5833

Rosmarinus officinalis L. 515 4017

Taraxacum officinale Weber 114 1131

Thymus spp. 308 2313

Tilia spp. 261 2411

Honeydew honey 721 5530

Honeydew honey fromMetcalfa pruinosa (Say)

153 1610

Total 5 481 46 181

S40 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro

and specific rotation are expressed on honey drymatter, the other ones on honey itself.

The pollen analysis was carried out according tothe IHC protocol (von der Ohe et al., 2004). The sen-sory descriptions were based on the harmonized sen-sory terminology (Piana et al., 2004).

3. RESULTS

For each of 15 unifloral types studied, adescriptive sheet was compiled, where the fol-lowing items are reported:– a text with general information on the honey

type and notes on its relevant characteristics;– pollen photograph (courtesy of Katharina

von der Ohe);– a table with sensory characteristics (accord-

ing to Piana et al., 2004);– a table with melissopalynological character-

istics;

– a table with physicochemical characteris-tics. For each parameter the number of sam-ples, the average values, standard deviationand confidence intervals at 95% are given;if the confidence limit was greater than thereal minimum or maximum value, the realvalue was given. On the right size of thetable, the number of laboratories that pro-vided the data and the total number of data percountry are also reported (labCountrydata), asan indication of the weight of each countryon the final average values.Sometimes, the botanical species that give

rise to the unifloral honeys described in thiswork are not the same in all the countries wherethe honeys are produced: in other words, thesame generic name can be used in differentcountries (or even in the same country), forhoneys coming from one or more different spe-cies, hybrids, varieties or cultivars belonging to

Figure 1. Water and HMF content in the IHC honey samples.

Figure 2. Distribution of electrical conductivity of Robinia honey. The total sampling is compared with thedata from different laboratories.


the same botanical group. These cases are dis-cussed in the respective sheets.

4. DISCUSSION

4.1. Diagnosis of unifloral honeys

In the routine work, when the analyst hasto verify the botanical denomination of a sin-gle honey sample, all three complementaryapproaches have to be taken into account,melissopalynological, sensory and physico-chemical. Melissopalynological analysis doesnot classify unequivocally unifloral honeys, andsensory evaluation may suffer from a certainsubjectivity. On the other hand, the discrimi-nating power of physicochemical parameters isto a certain extent affected by the honey varia-bility. Therefore, the whole analytical pictureof the sample has to be considered and inter-preted in order to establish if it corresponds tothe ‘reference model’ for that botanical origin(Persano Oddo and Bogdanov, 2004). First, thesensory correspondence has to be evaluated;that must comply with the consumer expecta-tion; then the melissopalynological characteris-tics have to be consistent with the declaredbotanical origin, and finally, the physicochem-ical values have to fall into the ranges specificfor that honey type, with particular attention tothe more characterising parameters.

According to previous researches on statis-tical analysis of unifloral analytical data (Mateoand Bosch-Reig, 1998; Piro et al., 2002), thefollowing parameters were found to have thegreatest discriminatory power: colour, electri-cal conductivity, specific rotation, diastase, acid-ity, fructose and glucose content. Their values(average and standard deviation) for the Euro-pean unifloral honeys are reported in Table III.To provide more information, in the table alsoother honey types are included, for which somedata were present in the data base, but that werenot consistent enough for including them in thedescriptive sheets. In the table the highlightedcells indicate, for each parameter, the honeytypes presenting the highest and the lowest val-ues: indeed, it was demonstrated that, for eachhoney type, parameters showing very high orvery low values have a greater classificationpower than the ones with medium values(Persano et al., 2000). The variability of the dif-

ferent parameters in the 15 unifloral honeytypes is shown in Figure 3.

4.2. A practical tool for the control of unifloral honeys

On the basis of the physicochemical data, apractical tool was elaborated for the routinecontrol of the botanical denominations. Theaim was to devise a type of graphic able to rep-resent, for each unifloral type, a characteristicphysicochemical profile, containing all the mostdiscriminating parameters: colour, electrical con-ductivity, specific rotation, acidity, diastase andsugars (fructose, glucose, fructose+glucose, fruc-tose/glucose ratio and glucose/water ratio).

All these parameters have different meas-urement units and numeric values. In order toreport them on the same graphic (one for eachhoney type), the values of each parameter (aver-age values, standard deviation and confidenceintervals) are transformed, so that they repre-sent percentages of the total range found forthat parameter on the whole data set (max value– min value), as follows:

where: vala% is the transformed valuevala is the original experimental valuevalmin is the experimental minimum value

found for that parameter on the whole data settotal range is the experimental range found

for that parameter on the whole data set (max-imum value – minimum value).

Example. The average value of electricalconductivity in Robinia honey is 0.16 mS/cm.For electrical conductivity the minimum valuefound on the whole data set is 0.08 mS/cm andthe maximum is 2.17 (total range = 2.09). Thetransformed value of Robinia average conduc-tivity, will be:

.

In this way it was possible to put on thesame graphic all the discriminating parametersrelated to each honey type, obtaining physico-chemical profiles giving a synoptic view of thehoney physicochemical behaviour (Fig. 4).

100% min ⋅⋅−=rangetotalvalvalval a

a

%8.310009.208.016.0 =⋅−


Table III – Characterising parameters of the European unifloral honeys (the whole data set is considered,including honeys not described in the sheets). The highlighted cells indicate, for each honey type, the morecharacterising parameters (light grey = low values; dark grey = high values).

HONEY TYPEC

olou

r(m

m P

fund

)

Ele

ctr.

con

d.

(mS

/cm

)

Spec

. rot

at.

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

(meq

/kg)

Dia

stas

e (D

N)

Fru

ctos

e(g

/100

g)

Glu

cose

(g/1

00 g

)

Fru

ct.+

Glu

c.(g

/100

g)

Fru

ct./G

luc.

ra

tio

Glu

c./W

ater

ra

tio

Arbutus** 70.1±10.0

0.74±0.10

–13.1±1.9

35.1±8.1

4.6±2.8

37.6±1.5

32.7±1.2

70.3±2.3

1.15±0.05

1.76±0.18

Brassica 26.2±4.1

0.19±0.05

– 10.3±2.1

26.9±5.8

38.3±1.7

40.5±2.6

78.7±3.5

0.95±0.07

2.37±0.21

Calluna 76.9±18.5

0.73±0.12

– 32.1±5.6

23.4±6.3

40.8±2.0

32.5±1.6

73.4±3.1

1.26±0.07

1.76±0.16

Castanea 87.9±16.0

1.38±0.27

–16.7±3.4

13.0±3.5

24.3±5.7

40.8±2.6

27.9±2.5

68.7±2.5

1.48±0.19

1.62±0.13

Citrus 15.0±6.6

0.19±0.06

–13.4±2.4

14.3±3.2

9.6±2.9

38.7±2.6

31.4±2.1

70.1±3.5

1.24±0.12

1.92±0.15

Erica arbo-rea**

99.1±12.9

0.70±0.09

–13.9±1.6

34.7±5.0

8.7±3.5

38.4±1.3

34.7±1.2

73.1±1.6

1.11±0.06

1.89±0.18

Eucalyptus 54.2±9.4

0.48±0.06

–13.3±2.3

19.4±5.3

25.5±4.8

39.1±2.2

33.0±1.9

72.0±3.3

1.19±0.09

2.14±0.15

Hedysarum** 18.4±8.3

0.20±0.05

–10.8±2.7

27.2±8.0

21.3±5.2

39.0±1.4

32.1±1.3

71.1±1.9

1.22±0.07

1.90±0.12

Helianthus 52.4*±9.0

0.34±0.08

–17.5±1.9

23.1±6.3

20.8±5.6

39.2±1.6

37.4±1.5

76.7±2.7

1.05±0.04

2.10±0.13

Lavandula 33.3±6.5

0.21±0.05

–8.3±3.8

17.3±4.0

14.1±2.4

36.0±1.9

30.6±1.7

66.6±2.9

1.18±0.07

1.88±0.09

Phacelia** – 0.23±0.09

– 19.8±7.5

– 37.3±2.5

34.0±1.9

71.3±3.8

1.10±0.08

2.09±0.15

Rhododendron 12.4±4.0

0.23±0.06

–5.8±2.4

13.3±3.3

12.1±2.3

39.1±2.1

30.4±2.2

69.6±3.4

1.29±0.10

1.79±0.17

Robinia 12.9±5.6

0.16±0.04

–16.6±3.1

11.2±3.4

10.5±5.0

42.7±2.3

26.5±1.7

69.2±3.3

1.61±0.11

1.57±0.13

Rosmarinus 15.0±5.8

0.15±0.04

–6.1±2.8

11.5±4.7

9.7±3.2

38.4±1.6

33.1±2.2

71.5±3.0

1.16±0.08

2.06±0.15

Taraxacum 56.6*±10.4

0.51±0.07

–10.0±2.1

10.9±2.0

11.3±2.3

37.4±1.8

38.0±2.8

75.2±3.9

0.99±0.07

2.33±0.15

Thymus 53.1±10.8

0.40±0.07

–20.1±2.1

37.2±6.3

29.2±7.6

42.4±2.4

30.3±1.8

72.7±2.9

1.41±0.12

1.90±0.13

Tilia 33.3±13.1

0.62±0.12

–12.5±2.8

20.8±7.7

16.8±3.4

37.5±2.9

31.9±2.5

69.5±4.0

1.18±0.12

1.93±0.19

Honeydew 86.0±16.4

1.20±0.22

13.9±5.7

26.0±5.6

22.6±5.6

32.5±1.9

26.2±2.5

58.7±3.8

1.25±0.12

1.61±0.17

Metcalfa h.dew 100.8±7.5

1.69±0.24

17.5±6.5

37.2±6.6

39.3±7.9

31.6±3.2

23.9±2.7

55.5±4.5

1.34±0.18

1.51±0.18

* Colour of Helianthus and Taraxacum honeys presents a typical yellow hue.** Honey types not described in the sheets.

α[] D20


Fig

ure

3. V

aria

bilit

y of

the

vari

ous

para

met

ers

in th

e un

iflo

ral h

oney

type

s st

udie

d (d

ark

grey

are

a =

mea

n ±

st. d

ev; l

ight

gre

y ar

ea =

min

-max

val

ues)

.


Fig

ure

3. C

ontin

ued.


Figure 4. Physicochemical profiles of the main European unifloral honeys. (Values of each parameter aretransformed as percentage of the experimental range found for that parameter on the whole data set.)


Figure 4. Continued.


To verify the botanical denomination ofunknown samples, the global correspondenceto the characteristic profile can be evaluated:after analysing the main parameters, the respec-tive “transformed values” are calculated, accord-ing to the above formula (for each parametervalmin and total range values are reported inTab. IV). The resulting profile is compared tothe characteristic profile of that honey type. Ifthe profile mostly falls into the standard devi-ation range (dark area) the sample is perfectlycorresponding to the type; if it falls into thelight area it can be considered acceptable; if itis out of the light area, it does not correspondto the type.

The excel file for applying this method isavailable in the online version (Appendix6.xls).

4.3. Compliance to norms

With respect to the composition and qualitystandards, the values of almost all the 6,719honey samples analysed by the 20 participantslaboratories perfectly comply with the limitsestablished by the new European Directive con-cerning honey (European Commission, 2002).In Table V the values found for the Directiveparameters in all the 6,719 IHC honey samplesare reported and compared with the prescribed

limits. For some honey types, particular valueswere found that should be included among theDirective exceptions. They are highlighted inthe table.

5. CONCLUSIONS

From the coordinated work carried out bythe IHC, an extensive databank was obtained,from which it was possible to outline a fairlycomplete picture of the main unifloral honeytypes produced in European countries. In mostcases, data from different laboratories were invery good agreement. They are also fairly con-sistent with those available in the literature(Piazza and Persano Oddo, 2004), some differ-ences mostly depending on the use of differentanalytical methods.

The descriptive sheets of the main Europeanunifloral honeys give, for the various parame-ters, ranges of values that include 95% of theanalysed samples. Therefore they reasonablyrepresent a basic criterion of acceptability forthe market and a useful reference for the eval-uation of botanical denominations. They mayassist the control authorities in the differentEuropean countries, and stimulate the produc-tion and trade of these valuable honey varieties.

REFERENCES

Bogdanov S., Lüllmann C., Martin P., von der Ohe W.,Russmann H., Vorwohl G., Persano Oddo L.,Sabatini A.G., Marcazzan G.L., Piro R., FlaminiC., Morlot M., Lheritier J., Borneck R., MarioleasP., Tsigouri A., Kerkvliet J., Ortiz A., Ivanov T.,D'Arcy B., Mossel B., Vit P. (1999) Honey quality,methods of analysis and international regulatorystandards, review of the work of the InternationalHoney Commission, Mitt. Lebensm. Hyg. 90,108–125.

Bogdanov S., Martin P., Lüllmann C. (1997)Harmonised methods of the European HoneyCommission, Apidologie extra issue, 1–59,available online at: http://www.apis.admin.ch/host/doc/pdfhoney/IHCmethods_e.pdf (accessedon 16 August 2004).

European Commission (2002) Council Directive2001/110/CE concerning honey, Off. J. Eur.Communities Jan 12th 2002, L10/47–52.

Ferreres F., Garcia Viguera C., Tomas-Lorente F.,Tomas Barberan F.A. (1993) Hesperetin: Amarker of the floral origin of citrus honey, J. Sci.Food Agric. 61, 121–123.

Table IV. Minimum values (Valmin) and ranges(Valmax−Valmin) of the main physicochemicalparameters.

Parameter Minimum value

Total range (Valmax−Valmin)

colour (mm Pfund) 5.0 114.4

electrical conductivity (mS/cm)

0.08 2.09

specific rotation –24.2 54.2

free acidity (meq/kg) 2.3 49.1

diastase (DN) 0 52.7

fructose (g/100 g) 25.3 22.0

glucose (g/100 g) 18.8 26.8

F+G (g/100 g) 46.6 39.1

F/G ratio 0.81 1.03

G/W ratio 1.22 1.56

α[ ]D20


Table V. Quality parameters fixed by the new European Directive concerning honey (2001/110/CE). Thelimits prescribed by the directive are compared with the corresponding experimental values of the samplesanalysed in the IHC work (the whole data set is considered, including honeys not described in the sheets).Honey types not complying with Directive limits are highlighted, and the extreme values are reported.

Parameter EU Directive limits Experimental values from IHC databank

Total No of data

H2O (g/100 g) <20 <20 3411

Exceptions Calluna: <23 Calluna max = 21.4 200

Other honey types that can exceed 20 g/100 g limit Arbutus max = 21.0 73

Fructose+Glucose (g/100 g)

>60 >60 2342

Exceptions Honeydew >45 Honeydews >45 474

Sucrose (g/100 g) <5 <5 1305

Exceptions Robinia <10Hedysarum <10Eucalyptus <10Citrus <10Medicago, Banksia, Eucryphia <10Lavandula <15Borago <15

Robinia max = 10.4

Hedysarum max = 8.3Eucalyptus max = 4.2Citrus max = 6.4–Lavandula max = 15.2–

4583581

110–

218–

Other honey types that can exceed 5 g/100 g limitTilia max = 10.0Rosmarinus max = 6.6Phacelia max = 8.8

1317426

Electrical conductivity(mS·cm−1)

< 0.8 < 0.8 3123

Castanea, Honeydew > 0.8 > 0.8 1158

Exceptions ArbutusEricaEucalyptusTiliaCallunaLeptospermum, Melaleuca

Arbutus 0.5–0.9Erica 0.6–0.9Eucalyptus 0.4–0.6Tilia 0.3–0.9Calluna 0.4–1.0–

6334

163202189

–

Free acidity (meq/kg) <50 <50 2517

Honey types that can exceed 50 meq/kg limit Metcalfa Hd max = 58.1 116

HMF (mg/kg) <40 0.1–22.8 1769

Exceptions tropical honeys <80 – –

Diastase (Schade units) >8 >8 1634

Exceptions honeys with low enzyme content: >3 Citrus min = 3.9Robinia min = 3.1Rosmarinus min = 5.0Taraxacum min = 5.2Erica min = 3.7

191283592625

Honey types that can go under the limit of 3 Schade units Arbutus 0–9.7 50


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Tomas-Barberan F.A., Martos I., Ferreres F., RadovicB.S., Anklam E. (2001) HPLC flavonoid profilesas markers for the botanical origin of Europeanunifloral honeys, J. Sci. Food Agric. 81, 485–496.

Von der Ohe W., Persano Oddo L., Piana M.L., MorlotM., Martin P. (2004) Harmonized methods ofmelissopalynology, Apidologie (Suppl. 1), S18–S25.

White J.W., Bryant V.M. Jr. (1996) Assessing citrushoney quality: pollen and methyl anthranilatecontent, J. Agric. Food Chem. 44, 3423–3425.


RAPE HONEY (BRASSICA SPP. - BRASSICACEAE)

Rape (Brassica napus L. and other species,hybrids and varieties) is largely cultivated inEurope for the seed, used for oil production. Itis very attractive to bees both for nectar and pol-len and in Central and Eastern European coun-tries represents one of the most importantspring sources, giving rise to large amounts ofvery pure unifloral honey. The extension of cul-tivation and consequently the production ofunifloral honey varies from year to year, accord-ing to European agricultural policy. In North-ern Europe, e.g. Finland, the main Brassicahoney is produced by turnip rape (Brassicarapa L. var. oleifera subvar. annua) (Ruoff,2003). Outside Europe rape honey is producedin all the countries of the temperate area(mainly North America and China).

In many countries the unifloral denomina-tion does not increase the market value and thehoney is sold without mention of the botanicalorigin or it is blended with other honeys.

This honey is characterised by quick granu-lation, due to the high glucose content. For thisproperty it is frequently used as a “crystallisa-tion starter”, added to other honeys to obtain afiner granulation.

Rapeseed pollen is normally represented.The unifloral honey presents low values ofelectrical conductivity, proline and F/G ratio,and high values of glucose, F+G and G/W ratio.For an authentic rapeseed honey some Euro-pean laboratories requires a F/G ratio lowerthan 1 (Russmann, personal communication).

Sensory description

Visual assessment Colour intensity: light

Colour tone: normal honey colour

Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: medium

Description: spoiled and vegetal

Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: weak

Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: medium

Description of aroma: floral – fresh fruit (fruity), warm, spoiled and vegetal

Persistence/aftertaste: short; aftertaste sometimes present (blackcurrant)

Other mouth perceptions: when crystallised in very small crystals, refreshing (like “fondant”)

Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: quickOther: this honey is often in crystallised form with very small crystals; in this case the colour appears whitish or dull ivory

Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S53B

rass

ica

hone

y(7

15 s

ampl

es; 5

939

data

)

Dat

a70

4M

in.

Max

.

82

.811

.260

.799

.265

21

CH

471

D45

11

F92

1F

IN51

1N

L11

PG

/10

g·10

3 75

.737

.34.

215

0.7

521

CH

221

D18

1N

L12

Dat

a52

35M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd26

.24.

120

.034

.393

1F

93

mS

/cm

0.19

0.05

0.10

0.28

687

1B

221

CH

472

D46

12

F94

1F

IN51

1N

L12

4.1

0.2

3.7

4.4

177

1B

251

CH

471

F93

1N

L12

meq

/kg

10.3

2.1

6.2

14.5

137

1B

191

CH

251

F93

meq

/kg

6.3

2.6

1.2

11.4

112

1B

191

F93

meq

/kg

16.3

4.3

7.9

23.0

112

1B

191

F93

g/10

0 g

17.0

1.1

14.9

19.1

702

1B

251

CH

472

D47

72

F94

1F

IN51

1N

L8

DN

26.9

5.8

15.3

36.8

951

B1

1D

11

FIN

93

U/k

g10

3.7

31.7

41.4

166.

054

11

B25

2D

465

1F

IN51

mg/

kg

235

4916

833

338

01

CH

251

D35

5

g/10

0 g

38.3

1.7

34.8

41.7

419

1B

231

CH

472

D25

22

F94

1N

L3

g/10

0 g

40.5

2.6

35.3

45.6

419

1B

231

CH

472

D25

22

F94

1N

L3

g/10

0 g

0.3

0.4

0.0

1.0

106

1B

231

CH

471

D34

2F

2

g/10

0 g

78.7

3.5

71.8

85.6

419

1B

231

CH

472

D25

22

F94

1N

L3

0.95

0.07

0.81

1.09

419

1B

231

CH

472

D25

22

F94

1N

L3

2.37

0.21

1.96

2.78

417

1B

231

CH

472

D25

02

F94

1N

L3

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Num

ber

of

data

St.

Dev

.L

imit

of

conf

iden

ce 9

5%

Uni

tyM

ean

St.

Dev

.N

umbe

r of

da

taL

imit

of

conf

iden

ce 9

5%

(*)

only

for

fre

sh h

oney

sL

egen

d: B

= B

elgi

um; B

u =

Bul

gari

a; C

H =

Sw

itze

rlan

d; C

Z =

Cze

ch R

epub

lic;

D =

Ger

man

y; F

= F

ranc

e; F

IN =

Fin

land

; GR

= G

reec

e; I

= I

taly

; NL

= N

ethe

rlan

ds; P

= P

ortu

gal;

S =

Spa

in; P

G =

pol

len

grai

ns; P

E =

pla

ntel

emen

ts; H

DE

= h

one y

dew

ele

men

ts

Fru

ctos

e

Glu

cose

Suc

rose

Fru

ctos

e +

Glu

cose

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

Glu

cose

/ W

ater

pH

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Lac

tone

s

Pro

line

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

Dia

stas

e (

*)

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Mea

nU

nity

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

s

Spe

cifi

c po

llen

Pol

len

abso

lute

num

ber

Phy

sico

chem

ical

par

amet

ers

%

.

.


HEATHER HONEY(CALLUNA VULGARIS (L.) HULL - ERICACEAE)

Calluna vulgaris (heather) is widely distrib-uted in the Northern and Western countries ofEurope, where it represents one of the mostimportant resources for honey production in thelate summer.

Heather honey is characterised by a partic-ular physical phenomenon, called thixotropy:due to the presence of colloidal proteins, itbecomes of a jelly consistence. This propertymakes the extraction from the combs only pos-sible with the help of special tools (providedwith needles that, mixing the honey in eachcomb cell, turn it into a sol state). A high watercontent, due to the season of production and thequick increase of HMF, due to a high aciditylevel, make the shelf-life of this honey shorterthan other honey types.

The melissopalynological characteristics ofCalluna honey are very variable: from thePG/10 g value (mostly between 20 000 and100 000, II class of representativity) it seems tobe normally represented, but the pollen percentis often under the 45% limit. This behaviourmay be accounted for by the particular extrac-tion technique (Louveaux, 1970).

The unifloral honey shows high values ofcolour, water and acidity; also electrical con-ductivity is one of the highest among nectarhoneys, apart from chestnut honey. The Euro-pean Directive allows a water content of up to

23 g/100 g and includes this honey in a groupwhose electrical conductivity may go beyondthe 0.8 mS/cm limit.

A chemical marker for this honey type couldbe represented by the high content of total pro-tein (Serra Bonvehí and Granados Tarrés,1993). One European laboratory accept as uni-floral only honeys whose protein content isabove 1.15 g/100 g (Russmann, personal com-munication). Another element of characterisa-tion can be the typical thixotropy, measurablethrough a viscosimeter (Serra Bonvehí andGranados Tarrés, 1993) or a thixotropic test(Louveaux, 1967).

Sensory description

Visual assessment Colour intensity: dark to very dark

Colour tone: normal honey colour with reddish/orange tone

Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: medium to strong

Description: woody, floral – fresh fruit, warm

Tasting assessment Sweetness: weak Acidity: medium

Bitterness: medium Intensity of aroma: strong

Description of aroma: floral – fresh fruit, warm

Persistence/aftertaste: long

Other mouth perceptions: -

Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: moderateOther: it often forms big rounded crystals; when liquid, the typical gel consistency is one of the diagnostic characteristics

Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S55C

allu

na h

oney

(219

sam

ples

; 146

8 da

ta)

Dat

a93

Min

.M

ax.

37

.019

.810

.376

.579

1D

601

F1

1N

L18

PG/1

0 g·

103

50.0

42.3

4.2

141.

514

1N

L14

Dat

a13

75M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd76

.918

.563

.890

.02

2F

2

mS/

cm0.

730.

120.

490.

9718

91

D15

42

F2

1N

L18

1P

15

4.2

0.2

3.9

4.7

352

F2

1N

L18

1P

15

meq

/kg

32.1

5.6

20.8

43.0

401

P40

g/10

0 g

18.5

1.5

15.6

21.4

200

1D

149

2F

21

NL

91

P40

DN

23.4

6.3

12.0

36.0

401

P40

U/k

g97

.634

.440

.016

5.7

132

1D

131

1F

1

mg/

kg

646

196

309

1033

144

1D

144

g/10

0 g

40.8

2.0

37.1

44.9

109

1D

107

2F

2

g/10

0 g

32.5

1.6

29.3

35.7

109

1D

107

2F

2

g/10

0 g

1.4

1.1

0.1

3.6

521

D16

2F

21

P34

g/10

0 g

73.4

3.1

67.2

79.5

109

1D

107

2F

2

1.26

0.07

1.15

1.40

109

1D

107

2F

2

1.76

0.16

1.45

2.07

105

1D

103

2F

2

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Spe

cifi

c po

llen

Pol

len

abso

lute

num

ber

Phys

icoc

hem

ical

par

amet

ers

Uni

tyM

ean

St. D

ev.

pH

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

Dia

stas

e (

*)

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Pro

line

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

Glu

cose

/ W

ater

(*)

only

for

fre

sh h

oney

s

Fru

ctos

e

Glu

cose

Suc

rose

Fru

ctos

e +

Glu

cose

St. D

ev.

Mea

nU

nity

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

sN

umbe

r of

da

taL

ab C

ount

ries

Dat

a

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Num

ber

of

data

%


CHESTNUT HONEY (CASTANEA SATIVA MILLER - FAGACEAE)

Castanea sativa is found in many Europeancountries, mostly Central and Southern onesand between 500 and 1000 m above sea level,spontaneous or cultivated for nuts and woodproduction. It represents for honey bees one ofthe best sources of nectar and pollen, but it canalso provide honeydew, following the attack bysome insects belonging to Rhynchota Homop-tera: Lachnus roboris L. (Lachnidae), Myzocalliscastanicola (Baker) (Callaphididae), Parthe-nolecanium rufulum (Cockrell) (Coccidae).

Pure chestnut honeys remain for a long timein a liquid state, due to the high fructose and lowglucose content. Castanea pollen is stronglyover-represented, and many laboratories requirea percentage of at least 90%, with more than100 000 PG/10 g honey, before accepting thehoney as unifloral. This honey shows quite atypical physicochemical pattern, with low val-ues of G/W ratio and high values of colour,electric conductivity, enzymes, pH and F/Gratio. For this honey the European Directiverequires a value of electrical conductivityhigher than 0.8 mS/cm.

In the IHC data collection, data from oneFrench laboratory show different fructose andglucose values, resulting in a lower averagefructose/glucose ratio (1.19 ± 0.07); excludingthese values, the F/G mean value resulting fromthe remaining data would increase from1.48 ± 0.19 to 1.56 ± 0.11.

Sensory description


Colour tone: normal honey colour with reddish tone

Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: strong

Description: woody, chemical, warm

Tasting assessment Sweetness: weak Acidity: weak

Bitterness: strong Intensity of aroma: strong

Description of aroma: woody, chemical, warm and spoiled


Other mouth perceptions: astringent

Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: slowOther: it is quite common a fluid consistency, due to a high water content


asta

nea

hone

y(4

95 s

ampl

es; 4

834

data

)

Dat

a63

2M

in.

Max

.

94

.54.

585

.610

0.0

375

1C

H55

1D

151

F62

1G

R10

2I

233

PG/1

0 g·

103

288.

218

0.1

100.

064

2.8

257

1C

H42

1G

R10

2I

205

Dat

a42

02M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd87

.916

.056

.311

9.4

279

1F

631

GR

102

I20

6

mS/

cm1.

380.

270.

861.

9140

61

B3

1C

H52

1D

292

F72

1G

R10

2I

235

1P

5

−16.

73.

4−2

3.3

−10.

024

01

Bu

102

I23

0

5.3

0.5

4.5

6.3

365

1B

41

CH

551

F62

2I

239

1P

5

meq

/kg

13.0

3.5

6.2

20.0

263

1B

31

Bu

101

CH

131

F63

2I

167

1P

7

meq

/kg

3.1

2.4

0.0

7.8

233

1B

31

F63

2I

167

meq

/kg

16.1

4.1

8.0

24.2

233

2B

31

F63

2I

167

g/10

0 g

17.5

1.2

15.2

19.8

210

1B

41

Bu

101

CH

551

D28

1F

571

GR

102

I40

1P

6

DN

24.3

5.7

12.9

35.6

298

1B

u10

1F

632

I21

91

P6

U/k

g15

2.3

31.2

90.3

214.

211

01

B

41

D27

1I

79

mg/

kg

585

167

383

919

691

CH

131

D28

1I

28

g/10

0 g

40.8

2.6

35.8

45.9

276

1B

41

CH

551

D18

2F

722

I12

7

g/10

0 g

27.9

2.5

22.9

32.8

273

1B

41

CH

551

D18

2F

712

I12

5

g/10

0 g

0.2

0.3

0.0

0.8

228

1B

41

CH

532

F54

2I

115

1P

2

g/10

0 g

68.7

2.5

63.8

73.6

273

1B

41

CH

551

D18

2F

712

I12

5

1.48

0.19

1.11

1.85

273

1B

41

CH

551

D18

2F

712

I12

5

1.62

0.13

1.37

1.88

173

1B

41

CH

551

D18

2F

562

I40

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

s

Spe

cifi

c po

llen

Pol

len

abso

lute

num

ber

St. D

ev.

Phys

icoc

hem

ical

par

amet

ers

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Num

ber

of

data

St. D

ev.

Num

ber

of

data

Uni

ty

Uni

tyM

ean

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

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ity

Spe

cifi

c R

otat

ion

pH

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Lac

tone

s

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

Mea

n

Fru

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e / G

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Glu

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/ W

ater

(*)

only

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sh h

oney

s

Fru

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e

Glu

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Suc

rose

Fru

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e +

Glu

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Pro

line

Dia

stas

e (

*)

[]2

0

Dα%


CITRUS HONEY (CITRUS SPP. - RUTACEAE)

Different species, hybrids, varieties and cul-tivars of Citrus are cultivated in Mediterraneancountries for the production of fruits and aro-matic essences. All of them are very attractiveto bees and give rise to large amounts of uni-floral honey, mainly in Spain and Italy. Thehoney has a high commercial value and is theobject of an import-export market.

Out of Europe the main producers of Citrushoney are Israel, USA (California), Brazil andMexico, from where it is also imported intoEurope.

Physicochemical characteristics of honeysfrom the various species are similar and oneoverall class is considered here, referred to Cit-rus spp.

Citrus pollen is under-represented, at alesser or greater extent depending on the dif-ferent species and cultivars. The unifloralhoney shows low values of colour, electricalconductivity, enzymes, and a slightly high con-tent of sucrose. In the European Directive, adiastase number as low as 3 and a sucrose con-tent up to 10 g/100 g are allowed for this honey.However, in the IHC data collection only2 samples had a sucrose content higher than thelimit of 5 g/100 g.

Methylanthranilate is a chemical “marker”for Citrus unifloral honey (Talpay, 1985; SerraBonvehí, 1988; Serra Bonvehí and VenturaColl, 1995; White and Bryant, 1996); German

laboratories consider a content of at least 2 mg/kgas typical for an authentic unifloral honey(Talpay, 1985; Russmann, personal commu-nication). The flavonoid “hesperitin” is alsoreported as a marker for Citrus unifloral honeyby Ferreres et al. (1993) and Tomas-Barberanet al. (2001).

In the IHC data collection a considerable dif-ference was recorded in proline values betweenGreece (769 mg/kg ± 157) and Italy (232 mg/kg± 95). Since no other countries provided datafor proline this parameter was omitted from thephysico-chemical table.

Sensory description

Visual assessment Colour intensity: very light



Description: floral – fresh fruit (floral)



Description of aroma: fresh (anise), floral – fresh fruit (floral)

Persistence/aftertaste: short to medium


Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: moderate


itru

s ho

ney

(299

sam

ples

; 255

5 da

ta)

Dat

a33

4M

in.

Max

.

18

.612

.02.

342

.219

23

GR

452

I14

7

PG/1

0 g·

103

10.5

5.5

2.5

21.3

142

1G

R10

2I

132

2555

Dat

a22

21M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd15

.06.

65.

028

.117

21

F1

1G

R14

2I

157

mS/

cm0.

190.

060.

110.

3125

02

F25

3G

R50

2I

175

−13.

42.

4−1

8.2

−8.6

168

2I

168

3.8

0.3

3.3

4.2

213

1F

12

GR

472

I16

5

meq

/kg

14.3

3.2

8.7

20.6

141

1F

12

I14

0

meq

/kg

3.3

2.5

0.0

8.2

141

1F

12

I14

0

meq

/kg

17.6

3.6

10.6

24.7

141

1F

12

I14

0

g/10

0 g

16.6

1.1

14.8

18.8

941

F1

3G

R51

2I

42

DN

9.6

2.9

3.9

15.4

191

1F

12

GR

342

I15

6

U/k

g40

.018

.07.

175

.710

11

GR

62

I95

g/10

0 g

38.7

2.6

33.7

43.8

114

2F

301

GR

32

I81

g/10

0 g

31.4

2.1

27.2

35.6

113

2F

301

GR

32

I80

g/10

0 g

1.2

1.2

0.0

3.5

110

2F

301

GR

22

I78

g/10

0 g

70.1

3.5

63.1

77.1

113

2F

301

GR

32

I80

1.24

0.12

1.00

1.47

113

2F

301

GR

32

I80

1.92

0.15

1.60

2.16

461

F1

1G

R3

2I

42

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Num

ber

of

data

St. D

ev.

Mea

nL

imit

of c

onfi

denc

e 95

%

Spe

cifi

c po

llen

Pol

len

abso

lute

num

ber

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

sU

nity

Phys

icoc

hem

ical

par

amet

ers

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Col

or

Uni

tyM

ean

St. D

ev.

Num

ber

of

data

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Spe

cifi

c R

otat

ion

pH

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

Lac

tone

s

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

Dia

stas

e (

*)

Glu

cose

/ W

ater

(*)

only

for

fre

sh h

oney

s

Fru

ctos

e

Glu

cose

Suc

rose

Fru

ctos

e +

Glu

cose

[]2

0

Dα%


EUCALYPTUS HONEY(EUCALYPTUS SPP. - MYRTACEAE)

Various Eucalyptus species, introduced fromAustralia at the beginning of the twentieth cen-tury, are found in the Mediterranean countriesof Europe, cultivated mainly along the coasts(the tree has a good resistance to the coastal cli-mate), for the paper industry, for the essentialoil and as ornamental species. E. camaldulensisDehn is one of the most important, but all spe-cies are very attractive to bees that gather fromthem both nectar and pollen.

The unifloral honey production is importantin Italy, Spain and Portugal. Outside Europe,large amounts of Eucalyptus honey are pro-duced in the countries where these speciescome from (Australia and New Zealand) or areintroduced (North and South Africa, Israel,Central and Southern America).

E. camaldulensis pollen is over-represented(usually, Italian laboratories consider that forauthentic honeys, at least 90% of specific pol-len is typical). Unifloral honey has slightly highvalues of diastase, invertase and G/W ratio (dueto a low water content rather than high glucosecontent). The European Directive includesEucalyptus honey in a group whose electrical

conductivity may go beyond the 0.8 mS/cmlimit, and allows for this honey a sucrose con-tent up to 10 g/100 g. However, in samples col-lected by IHC, the highest value of electricalconductivity was about 0.6 mS/cm, and nosucrose values were recorded above the 5 g/100 g limit. Indeed, the Directive takes intoaccount Eucalyptus honeys from non-Euro-pean countries, that may have different values(Bogdanov et al., 1999).

Sensory description

Visual assessment Colour intensity: medium to dark

Colour tone: normal honey colour with dull tone (greyish)

Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: medium to strong

Description: warm and spoiled



Description of aroma: woody, warm and spoiled

Persistence/aftertaste: medium



Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S61E

ucal

yptu

s ho

ney

(208

sam

ples

; 169

2 da

ta)

Dat

a22

8M

in.

Max

.

94

.85.

983

.110

0.0

118

1G

R9

2I

109

PG/1

0 g·

103

269.

613

6.7

90.0

540.

611

01

GR

92

I10

1

Dat

a14

64M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd54

.29.

441

.071

.011

31

GR

92

I10

4

mS/

cm0.

480.

060.

370.

6016

31

F10

1G

R9

2I

136

1P

8

−13.

32.

3−1

7.8

−9.0

121

2I

121

4.0

0.2

3.7

4.3

144

2I

136

1P

8

meq

/kg

19.4

5.3

10.5

29.9

912

I82

1P

9

meq

/kg

3.3

2.4

0.0

8.0

822

I82

meq

/kg

22.0

4.5

14.8

31.0

822

I82

g/10

0 g

16.0

1.0

14.0

17.9

521

GR

92

I29

1P

14

DN

25.5

4.8

16.0

35.1

117

2I

106

1P

11

U/k

g15

5.3

28.7

99.5

208.

275

2I

75

mg/

kg

528

147

330

827

332

I33

g/10

0 g

39.1

2.2

34.7

42.3

711

F12

2I

59

g/10

0 g

33.0

1.9

29.1

35.5

701

F12

2I

58

g/10

0 g

1.1

0.9

0.0

3.0

811

F12

2I

571

P12

g/10

0 g

72.0

3.3

65.4

76.8

701

F12

2I

58

1.19

0.09

1.01

1.36

701

F12

2I

58

2.14

0.15

1.88

2.43

292

I29

Mea

n

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

Glu

cose

/ W

ater

(*)

only

for

fre

sh h

oney

s

Fru

ctos

e

Glu

cose

Suc

rose

Fru

ctos

e +

Glu

cose

Pro

line

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Spe

cifi

c R

otat

ion

pH

Lac

tone

s

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

Dia

stas

e (

*)

Phys

icoc

hem

ical

par

amet

ers

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Num

ber

of

data

St. D

ev.

Num

ber

of

data

Uni

ty

Uni

tyM

ean

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

s

Spe

cifi

c po

llen

Pol

len

abso

lute

num

ber

St. D

ev.

%

[]2

0

Dα


SUNFLOWER HONEY (HELIANTHUS ANNUUS L. - ASTERACEAE)

Sunflower is largely cultivated for the oilyseeds in many European countries, above all inEastern and Southern ones, where it representsto bees an important source of nectar and pol-len. The extension of cultivation and conse-quently the production of unifloral honey var-ies from year to year according to the Europeanagricultural policy.

At present the unifloral denomination doesnot add market value to this honey, and in somecountries it is not labelled as unifloral or it isblended with multifloral honeys.

The unifloral honey has a quick and oftenhard crystallisation, due to the high glucosecontent.

A big variability was recorded in the Heli-anthus pollen content, from less than 20% tomore than 90%, with a PG/10 g value mostlybelow 30 000. The morphology of flower andpollen grains do not justify any under-repre-sented behaviour, but different varieties or cul-tivars may have a variable pollen production.

Apart from its bright yellow colour, Helian-thus unifloral honey is characterised by slightly

high proline and acidity values and by a typicalsugar spectrum, with a high glucose content,leading to a high F+G and a low F/G ratio. G/Wratio is quite elevated, but not at the highest lev-els, because of an often high water content.Low values were also recorded for sucrose andother oligosaccharides (Persano Oddo et al.,2000).

Sensory description

Visual assessment Colour intensity: medium

Colour tone: bright yellow

Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: weak

Description: floral – fresh fruit (fruity), warm and vegetal

Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: strong

Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: weak to medium

Description of aroma: floral – fresh fruit (fruity), warm and vegetal

Persistence/aftertaste: short

Other mouth perceptions: when crystallised with very small crystals, refreshing (like “fondant”)

Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: quickOther: crystallisation with hard crystals (hardly soluble) is frequent

Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S63H

elia

nthu

s ho

ney

(358

sam

ples

; 331

2 da

ta)

Dat

a32

1M

in.

Max

.

56

.724

.212

.092

.022

91

D11

1F

121

3G

R39

2I

58

PG/1

0 g·

103

18.8

12.1

2.3

42.7

921

D5

1G

R8

2I

79

Dat

a29

91M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd52

.49.

035

.070

.118

91

F11

91

GR

62

I64

mS/

cm0.

340.

080.

230.

5127

21

Bu

91

D17

3F

126

3G

R40

2I

80

−17.

51.

9−2

1.3

−13.

610

51

Bu

262

I79

3.8

0.2

3.5

4.2

243

1B

u6

1F

122

2G

R34

2I

81

meq

/kg

23.1

6.3

14.2

35.5

221

1B

u28

1F

122

2I

71

meq

/kg

10.1

5.8

0.9

20.1

193

1F

122

2I

71

meq

/kg

32.1

5.8

20.6

42.7

193

1F

122

2I

71

g/10

0 g

17.8

1.1

15.7

19.9

233

1B

u31

2D

202

F12

33

GR

412

I18

DN

20.8

5.6

10.0

31.9

231

1B

u17

1D

51

F11

42

GR

322

I63

U/k

g11

7.0

37.6

66.2

192.

166

1B

u6

1D

141

F1

1G

R7

2I

38

mg/

kg

562

146

348

794

281

D6

1G

R10

2I

12

g/10

0 g

39.2

1.6

36.1

42.4

178

2D

103

F12

71

GR

22

I39

g/10

0 g

37.4

1.5

34.5

40.4

177

2D

103

F12

71

GR

22

I38

g/10

0 g

0.3

0.2

0.0

0.7

157

1D

33

F11

41

GR

22

I38

g/10

0 g

76.7

2.7

71.3

82.0

176

2D

103

F12

71

GR

22

I37

1.05

0.04

0.97

1.13

176

2D

103

F12

71

GR

22

I37

2.10

0.13

1.84

2.35

153

2D

102

F12

31

GR

22

I18

Pro

line

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

Glu

cose

/ W

ater

(*)

only

for

fre

sh h

oney

s+A

1

Fru

ctos

e

Glu

cose

Suc

rose

Fru

ctos

e +

Glu

cose

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

Dia

stas

e (

*)

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Spe

cifi

c R

otat

ion

pH

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Lac

tone

s

Phys

icoc

hem

ical

par

amet

ers

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Spe

cifi

c po

llen

Pol

len

abso

lute

num

ber

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

sL

ab C

ount

ries

Dat

a

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Num

ber

of

data

Uni

tyM

ean

St. D

ev.

Uni

tyM

ean

St. D

ev.

Num

ber

of

data

%

[]2

0

Dα


LAVANDER HONEY(LAVANDULA SPP. - LAMIACEAE)

Lavandula unifloral honey is mainly pro-duced from the hybrid L. x intermedia Emericex Loiselieur, cultivated for the essential oil inFrance, Spain and, to a lesser extent, in otherSouthern and Mediterranean countries. It isextremely attractive to bees and represents avery valuable resource for honey production;Lavander honey also has a high commercialvalue and is marketed internationally.

Unifloral honey can be produced also fromother Lavandula species: L. angustifolia Miller(France and Spain), L. latifolia Medicus (Spainand France) and L. stoechas L. (Spain, Portugaland Italy). In the IHC data collection, the firstone showed a physicochemical pattern quitesimilar to L. x intermedia, therefore one overallclass was considered, referred to Lavandulaspp. Different characteristics were recorded forL. latifolia and L. stoechas honeys, that are notdescribed here, since their production is mostlyof local interest.

L. x intermedia pollen is strongly under-rep-resented and even absent. The physicochemical

pattern of Lavander unifloral honey is charac-terised by low values of electrical conductivity,slightly low F+G and high values of sucrose.For this honey the European Directive allowsa sucrose content up to 15 g/100 g.

Sensory description

Visual assessment Colour intensity: light

Colour tone: normal honey colour, with bright tone (yellow)


Description: woody, floral – fresh fruit (floral) and vegetal

Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: medium


Description of aroma: woody, fresh, floral - fresh fruit and warm


Other mouth perceptions: aftertaste sometimes present (blackcurrant)


Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S65L

avan

dula

hon

ey

(261

sam

ples

; 204

1 da

ta)

Dat

a84

Min

.M

ax.

8.

25.

91.

019

.984

1F

581

S26

Dat

a19

57M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd33

.36.

520

.345

.059

2F

59

mS/

cm0.

210.

050.

120.

3123

11

Bu

33

F20

21

S26

−8.3

3.8

−12.

1−3

.14

1B

u4

3.8

0.1

3.5

4.0

891

Bu

32

F60

1S

26

meq

/kg

17.3

4.0

10.9

25.2

901

Bu

51

F59

1S

26

meq

/kg

9.7

2.5

4.7

14.2

841

F58

1S

26

meq

/kg

26.3

2.9

20.6

32.1

841

F58

1S

26

g/10

0 g

16.7

0.7

15.2

18.1

961

Bu

102

F60

1S

26

DN

14.1

2.4

9.4

18.8

641

Bu

51

F59

U/k

g10

6.5

44.4

42.6

157.

26

1B

u5

1F

1

g/10

0 g

36.0

1.9

32.3

39.8

219

3F

219

g/10

0 g

30.6

1.7

27.3

33.9

218

3F

218

g/10

0 g

5.7

3.3

0.0

12.3

218

3F

218

g/10

0 g

66.6

2.9

60.9

72.3

218

3F

218

1.18

0.07

1.03

1.33

218

3F

218

1.88

0.09

1.73

2.06

592

F59

Mea

n

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

Glu

cose

/ W

ater

(*)

only

for

fre

sh h

oney

s

Fru

ctos

e

Glu

cose

Suc

rose

Fru

ctos

e +

Glu

cose

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Spe

cifi

c R

otat

ion

pH

Lac

tone

s

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

Dia

stas

e (

*)

Phys

icoc

hem

ical

par

amet

ers

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Num

ber

of

data

St. D

ev.

Num

ber

of

data

Uni

ty

Uni

tyM

ean

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

s

Spe

cifi

c po

llen

St. D

ev.

%

[]2

0

Dα


RHODODENDRON HONEY(RHODODENDRON SPP - ERICACEAE)

Rhododendron honey originates from thespecies and natural hybrids spread in the Alpsand Pyrenees: R. ferrugineum L., R. hirsutumL. and their hybrid R. x intermedium. One over-all class is considered here, referred to as Rho-dodendron spp.

The unifloral honey is produced exclusivelyat an altitude where bees can stay only duringsome months, therefore the seasonal migrationof hives is always required. The harvest is notabundant (or even certain), because of the var-iable meteorological conditions, and does notmeet the demand. It is mostly sold in the pro-duction areas. Its market value is elevated andthis may encourage an incorrect use of thedenomination.

Rhododendron pollen is under-represented(PG/10 g < 20 000), but relatively high percent-ages of the specific pollen are not rare. The uni-

floral honey shows low values of colour, elec-trical conductivity and proline, and moderatelynegative values of specific rotation.

Sensory description




Description: woody and floral – fresh fruit


Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: weak

Description of aroma: woody, fresh, floral – fresh fruit (fruity) and warm




Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S67R

hodo

dend

ron

hone

y(1

39 s

ampl

es; 1

495

data

)

Dat

a15

0M

in.

Max

.

38

.619

.515

.077

.385

1C

H11

2I

74

PG/1

0 g·

103

12.6

6.4

3.5

25.0

652

I65

Dat

a13

45M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd12

.44.

011

.020

.474

2I

74

mS/

cm0.

230.

060.

140.

3412

51

CH

111

F37

2I

77

−5.8

2.4

−10.

6−1

.776

2I

76

3.9

0.2

3.7

4.2

911

CH

111

F1

2I

79

meq

/kg

13.3

3.3

6.8

19.9

841

CH

51

F1

2I

78

meq

/kg

1.2

1.2

0.0

3.6

772

I77

meq

/kg

14.8

3.4

8.0

21.7

772

I77

g/10

0 g

16.6

0.9

15.0

18.5

381

CH

111

F1

2I

26

DN

12.1

2.3

7.4

16.7

751

F1

2I

74

U/k

g79

.621

.137

.212

1.9

522

I52

mg/

kg

264

3520

832

716

1C

H5

2I

11

g/10

0 g

39.1

2.1

35.0

43.3

107

1C

H11

1F

382

I58

g/10

0 g

30.4

2.2

26.0

34.8

106

1C

H11

1F

382

I57

g/10

0 g

0.6

0.9

0.0

2.4

991

CH

112

F38

2I

50

g/10

0 g

69.6

3.4

62.8

76.4

105

1C

H11

1F

382

I56

1.29

0.10

1.09

1.50

105

1C

H11

1F

382

I56

1.79

0.17

1.45

2.13

381

CH

111

F1

2I

26

Mea

n

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

Glu

cose

/ W

ater

(*)

only

for

fre

sh h

oney

s

Fru

ctos

e

Glu

cose

Suc

rose

Fru

ctos

e +

Glu

cose

Pro

line

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Spe

cifi

c R

otat

ion

pH

Lac

tone

s

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

Dia

stas

e (

*)

Phys

icoc

hem

ical

par

amet

ers

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Num

ber

of

data

St. D

ev.

Num

ber

of

data

Uni

ty

Uni

tyM

ean

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

s

Spe

cifi

c po

llen

Pol

len

abso

lute

num

ber

St. D

ev.

% []2

0

Dα


BLACK LOCUST HONEY (ROBINIA PSEUDOACACIA L. - FABACEAE)

Robinia pseudoacacia, native to the North-east United States, is widely naturalised andcultivated in Europe. Important amounts ofRobinia unifloral honey (often incorrectly calledAcacia honey) are produced in many Europeancountries, mainly in the Eastern ones, where themajor quantities come from. Outside Europe,the Robinia honey is produced mostly in China.

Robinia honey is one of the most valuableshoney types on the European market, becauseits characteristics are very much appreciated bythe consumer: liquid (due to the high fructosecontent) and very light coloured and flavoured.These characteristics may easily be spoiled bythe presence of foreign nectars or honeydewcomponents, even in small quantities.

Robinia pollen is under-represented. Theunifloral honey has quite a typical pattern, withlow values of electrical conductivity, colour,acidity, enzymes, proline, glucose and G/Wratio and high values of fructose, sucrose andF/G ratio. For accepting a Robinia honey asunifloral, one European laboratory requires aF/G ratio of at least 1.55 (Russmann, personalcommunication). According to the EuropeanDirective a content of sucrose up to 10 g/100 gis permitted for this honey; moreover, it can beincluded in the category of honeys with a low

enzyme content, for which a minimum diastasenumber of 3 is allowed.

In the IHC data collection, data from oneFrench laboratory show slightly different fruc-tose and glucose values, resulting in a loweraverage fructose/glucose ratio (1.49 ± 0.06);excluding these values, the F/G mean valueresulting from the remaining data wouldincrease from 1.61 ± 0.11 to 1.65 ± 0.10.

Sensory description




Description: floral – fresh fruit and warm

Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium to strong Acidity: weak

Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: weak

Description of aroma: floral – fresh fruit and warm



Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: slow


obin

ia h

oney

(715

sam

ples

; 583

3 da

ta)

Dat

a51

4M

in.

Max

.

28

.115

.97.

059

.528

81

CH

191

D33

1F

352

I20

1

PG/1

0 g·

103

9.2

5.0

1.0

19.0

226

1D

192

I20

7

Dat

a53

19M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd12

.95.

65.

023

.924

02

F53

2I

187

mS/

cm0.

160.

040.

090.

2351

31

B11

1B

u9

1C

H19

1D

451

F19

42

I23

5

−16.

63.

1−2

2.7

−10.

525

61

Bu

502

I20

6

3.9

0.1

3.7

4.2

293

1B

111

CH

192

F54

2I

209

meq

/kg

11.2

3.4

4.5

17.9

297

1B

101

Bu

501

CH

121

F36

2I

189

meq

/kg

2.8

2.2

0.0

7.1

234

1B

91

F36

2I

189

meq

/kg

13.4

3.0

7.5

19.4

234

1B

91

F36

2I

189

g/10

0 g

17.1

1.3

14.7

19.6

263

1B

111

Bu

501

CH

191

CZ

212

D66

2F

542

I42

DN

10.5

5.0

3.1

20.4

283

1B

11

Bu

501

D13

1F

362

I18

3

U/k

g45

.531

.43.

410

7.5

159

1B

9

2D

521

F18

2I

80

mg/

kg

222

5811

233

777

1C

H12

1D

272

I38

g/10

0 g

42.7

2.3

38.1

47.3

455

1B

51

Bu

31

CH

191

CZ

212

D62

3F

206

2I

139

g/10

0 g

26.5

1.7

23.1

29.9

456

1B

51

Bu

31

CH

191

CZ

212

D62

3F

206

2I

140

g/10

0 g

2.1

2.0

0.0

6.1

458

1B

111

Bu

31

CH

191

CZ

212

D55

3F

208

2I

141

g/10

0 g

69.2

3.3

62.7

75.7

454

1B

51

Bu

31

CH

191

CZ

212

D62

3F

206

2I

138

1.61

0.11

1.39

1.83

454

1B

51

Bu

31

CH

191

CZ

212

D62

3F

206

2I

138

1.57

0.13

1.32

1.82

193

1B

51

CH

191

CZ

212

D53

2F

542

I41

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

Glu

cose

/ W

ater

(*)

only

for

fre

sh h

oney

s

Fru

ctos

e

Glu

cose

Suc

rose

Fru

ctos

e +

Glu

cose

Dia

stas

e (

*)

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Pro

line

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Lac

tone

s

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Spe

cifi

c R

otat

ion

pH

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

sM

ean

Uni

ty

Uni

ty

Spe

cifi

c po

llen

Pol

len

abso

lute

num

ber

Phys

icoc

hem

ical

par

amet

ers

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Mea

nSt

. Dev

.L

ab C

ount

ries

Dat

aN

umbe

r of

da

ta

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Num

ber

of

data

St. D

ev.

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

%

[]2

0

Dα


ROSEMARY HONEY(ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS L. - LAMIACEAE)

Rosmarinus officinalis is a typical plantof the Mediterranean vegetation. Spontaneousalong the coasts, it is also cultivated as an aro-matic plant in a wider area. It is very attractiveto bees, but as the main flow is in early spring,a good exploitation of this very valuable nectarsource is not always possible.

The unifloral honey is produced in the Med-iterranean countries of Europe (mainly inSpain), North Africa and Turkey. It is appreci-ated by the consumer for its fine flavour and hasa good commercial value.

The pollen of Rosmarinus is under-repre-sented. The unifloral honey shows low valuesfor colour, electrical conductivity, proline anddiastase, and moderately negative values ofspecific rotation. Some samples from Spainand France showed a sucrose content higherthan 5 g/100 g, but this seems to be more a spo-radic exception than a typical feature of thehoney. This honey type can be included in the

category of honeys with low enzyme content,for which the European Directive allows a min-imum diastase number of 3.

Sensory description



Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: weak to medium

Description: fresh, floral – fresh fruit and vegetal


Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: weak to medium

Description of aroma: fresh, floral – fresh fruit and vegetal





osm

arin

us h

oney

(515

sam

ples

; 401

7 da

ta)

Dat

a50

9M

in.

Max

.

28

.714

.710

.057

.546

52

I41

1S

424

PG/1

0 g·

103

9.4

3.9

1.9

17.3

442

I44

Dat

a35

08M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd15

.05.

811

.026

.642

1F

12

I41

mS/

cm0.

150.

040.

080.

2349

01

F18

2I

511

S42

1

−6.1

2.8

−11.

6−0

.610

32

I51

1S

52

4.0

0.2

3.6

4.4

480

1F

22

I56

1S

422

meq

/kg

11.5

4.7

2.3

20.8

470

1F

12

I46

1S

423

meq

/kg

4.2

3.4

0.0

10.9

467

1F

12

I46

1S

420

meq

/kg

15.7

4.6

7.2

24.7

467

1F

12

I46

1S

420

g/10

0 g

16.4

1.4

13.7

19.0

441

1F

22

I15

1S

424

DN

9.7

3.2

5.0

16.1

591

F1

2I

491

S9

.

U/k

g56

.417

.222

.190

.770

2I

441

S26

mg/

kg

271

9582

461

632

I15

1S

48

g/10

0 g

38.4

1.6

35.1

41.6

663

F20

2I

451

S1

g/10

0 g

33.1

2.2

28.7

37.4

663

F20

2I

451

S1

g/10

0 g

1.3

1.9

0.0

5.0

743

F20

2I

401

S14

g/10

0 g

71.5

3.0

65.4

77.5

663

F20

2I

451

S1

1.16

0.08

1.01

1.33

663

F20

2I

451

S1

2.06

0.15

1.84

2.32

181

F2

2I

151

S1

St. D

ev.

Mea

nU

nity

Uni

tyM

ean

St. D

ev.

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

s

Phys

icoc

hem

ical

par

amet

ers

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Num

ber

of

data

Spe

cifi

c po

llen

Pol

len

abso

lute

num

ber

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Num

ber

of

data

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Spe

cifi

c R

otat

ion

pH

Dia

stas

e (

*)

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Pro

line

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Lac

tone

s

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

Glu

cose

/ W

ater

(*)

only

for

fre

sh h

oney

s

Fru

ctos

e

Glu

cose

Suc

rose

Fru

ctos

e +

Glu

cose

% []2

0

Dα


DANDELION HONEY(TARAXACUM OFFICINALE GROUP - ASTERACEAE)

Taraxacum officinale is a polymorph botan-ical group widely spread in Europe, mainly inthe Central countries. It represents one of theearlier nectar sources, not always exploited bythe bee colonies, which are frequently notdeveloped enough to gather it for honey pro-duction.

Dandelion unifloral honey has a typical yel-low colour, quite a strong flavour and crystal-lises rapidly, due to the high glucose content.It is mostly sold in the production areas.

From the PG/10 g values (33 600 ± 15 100)the pollen of Taraxacum does not seem to beunder-represented, however its percentage inthe honey rarely goes beyond 50%, and oftenit is lower than the associated species, such asSalix or Cruciferae. This could indicate that thishoney type hardly ever is really pure, neverthe-less the sensory and physicochemical patternsare very characteristic and the honey is easilyrecognisable.

Taraxacum honey shows low values of acid-ity and F/G ratio, and high values of glucose,F+G and G/W ratio. In some Italian samples thediastase value was under the Directive limitof 8.

Sensory description

Visual assessment Colour intensity: medium

Colour tone: bright yellow


Description: spoiled


Bitterness: absent to weak Intensity of aroma: strong

Description of aroma: woody and spoiled


Other mouth perceptions: when crystallised with very small crystals, refreshing (like “fondant”)

Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: quickOther: this honey is often found in a crystallised form with very small crystals; in this case the colour appears faint yellow (like custard)

Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S73Ta

raxa

cum

hon

ey(1

14 s

ampl

es; 1

131

data

)

Uni

tyM

ean

St. D

ev.

Num

ber

of

data

Dat

a12

9M

in.

Max

.

17

.211

.75.

040

.585

1C

H26

1D

152

I44

PG/1

0 g·

103

33.6

15.3

7.8

63.0

442

I44

Uni

tyM

ean

St. D

ev.

Num

ber

of

data

Dat

a10

02M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd56

.610

.441

.071

.045

2I

45

mS/

cm0.

510.

070.

370.

6510

51

B5

1C

H26

1D

162

I58

−10.

02.

1−1

3.9

−5.9

542

I54

4.5

0.2

4.0

4.9

741

B5

1C

H26

2I

43

meq

/kg

10.9

2.0

6.8

14.9

581

B5

1C

H14

2I

39

meq

/kg

1.5

2.3

0.0

6.1

441

B5

2I

39

meq

/kg

12.5

2.7

7.4

17.1

441

B5

2I

39

g/10

0 g

16.2

1.1

14.4

18.3

601

B5

1C

H26

1D

162

I13

DN

11.3

2.3

6.6

14.5

262

I26

U/k

g11

0.7

28.9

58.5

166.

045

1B

31

D16

2I

26

mg/

kg

348

6025

546

936

1C

H14

1D

162

I6

g/10

0 g

37.4

1.8

33.8

41.0

741

B3

1C

H26

1D

172

I28

g/10

0 g

38.0

2.8

32.4

43.5

741

B3

1C

H26

1D

172

I28

g/10

0 g

0.4

0.6

0.0

1.5

591

B3

1C

H26

1D

52

I25

g/10

0 g

75.2

3.9

67.6

82.9

741

B3

1C

H26

1D

172

I28

0.99

0.07

0.85

1.13

741

B3

1C

H26

1D

172

I28

2.33

0.15

2.03

2.63

561

B2

1C

H26

1D

152

I13

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

sL

imit

of c

onfi

denc

e 95

%

Spe

cifi

c po

llen

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Pol

len

abso

lute

num

ber

Phys

icoc

hem

ical

par

amet

ers

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Spe

cifi

c R

otat

ion

pH

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Lac

tone

s

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

Dia

stas

e (

*)

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Pro

line

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

Glu

cose

/ W

ater

(*)

only

for

fre

sh h

oney

s

Fru

ctos

e

Glu

cose

Suc

rose

Fru

ctos

e +

Glu

cose

% []2

0

Dα


THYME HONEY(THYMUS SPP. - LAMIACEAE)

Different species of Thymus are found inthe Mediterranean countries. Unifloral Thymushoney is produced in Italy mainly from Th. cap-itatus, in Greece from a variety of different spe-cies of Thymus and other Labiatae, and in Spainand France mainly from Th. vulgaris L. Thedata reported in this sheet are in large part fromItaly and Greece. Other possible unifloral hon-eys from other Thymus species, with differentcharacteristics, are not described here.

The melissopalynological pattern of Italiansamples is more typical of a under-representedhoney (PG/10 g: 10 100 ± 6 000; Thymus pol-len 26.6% ± 10.0), while Greek samples showa very variable pollen content (PG/10 g:33 800 ± 16 700; Thymus pollen 40.2% ±16.4).

Unifloral thyme honey presents quite highvalues of diastase, high values of proline, fruc-

tose and acidity (causing a quick increase inHMF); the specific rotation has the lowestvalues.

Sensory description (referred to honey from Thymus capitatus)

Visual assessment Colour intensity: medium to dark



Description: woody, chemical, fresh and floral – fresh fruit (floral)


Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: medium to strong

Description of aroma: woody, chemical, fresh and floral – fresh fruit




Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S75T

hym

us h

oney

(308

sam

ples

; 231

3 da

ta)

Dat

a46

3M

in.

Max

.

36

.016

.012

.567

.625

31

F1

3G

R17

52

I77

PG/1

0 g·

103

25.9

17.9

1.8

61.2

210

2G

R13

02

I80

Dat

a18

50M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd53

.110

.835

.074

.514

31

F1

1G

R78

2I

64

mS/

cm0.

400.

070.

250.

5424

81

F4

4G

R17

02

I74

−20.

12.

1−2

4.2

−16.

770

2I

70

3.8

0.1

3.5

4.1

131

1F

12

GR

422

I88

meq

/kg

37.2

6.3

24.6

49.7

761

F1

2I

75

meq

/kg

2.4

2.2

0.1

6.9

752

I75

meq

/kg

39.6

5.7

28.3

50.9

752

I75

g/10

0 g

15.9

0.9

14.0

17.7

200

1F

14

GR

178

2I

21

DN

29.2

7.6

15.0

44.4

145

1F

13

GR

732

I71

U/k

g12

1.1

34.7

54.8

190.

377

2G

R30

2I

47

mg/

kg

956

196

614

1357

342

GR

212

I13

g/10

0 g

42.4

2.4

37.7

47.1

105

2F

32

GR

492

I53

g/10

0 g

30.3

1.8

26.7

33.8

105

2F

32

GR

492

I53

g/10

0 g

0.3

0.4

0.0

1.1

912

F3

2G

R49

2I

39

g/10

0 g

72.7

2.9

66.9

78.4

105

2F

32

GR

492

I53

1.41

0.12

1.17

1.65

105

2F

32

GR

492

I53

1.90

0.13

1.63

2.16

651

F1

2G

R43

2I

21

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

s

Phys

icoc

hem

ical

par

amet

ers

Mea

nU

nity

Mea

n

Spe

cifi

c po

llen

Pol

len

abso

lute

num

ber

St. D

ev.

Num

ber

of

data

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

Glu

cose

/ W

ater

Dia

stas

e (

*)

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Pro

line

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Lac

tone

s

Uni

ty

(*)

only

for

fre

sh h

oney

s

Fru

ctos

e

Glu

cose

Suc

rose

Fru

ctos

e +

Glu

cose

St. D

ev.

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Spe

cifi

c R

otat

ion

pH

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Num

ber

of

data

%

[]2

0

Dα


LIME HONEY(TILIA SPP - TILIACEAE)

Some species of Tilia (mainly T. platyphyl-los and T. cordata) grow naturally in manyEuropean countries, and a number of differentspecies, hybrids and varieties are cultivated asornamental trees. All of them are very goodsources of nectar, but can also provide honey-dew, following the attack of some insectsbelonging to Rhynchota Homoptera, such asEucallipterus tiliae L. (Callaphididae).

Unifloral honey is produced mainly in Cen-tral and Eastern European Countries. OutsideEurope large amounts of Lime honey are pro-duced in Russia and China. It has a good com-mercial value. It is not possible to distinguishbetween honeys from the different Tilia spe-cies, so one overall class is described here,referred to as Tilia spp.

Tilia pollen is under-represented, some-times extremely (due to cultivated sterile vari-eties). Unifloral Tilia honey has average valuesfor most of the physicochemical parameters.Electrical conductivity values are quite high,for a nectar honey, and the European Directiveincludes this honey in a group whose electricalconductivity may go beyond the 0.8 mS/cmlimit. Several samples showed a sucrose con-tent higher than 5 g/100 g, however this honeyis not included among the ones for which a

10 g/100 g limit is allowed by the EuropeanDirective. Some G+F values are lower than60 g/100 g, but this can be accounted for by thepossible presence of honeydew, which can alsocause a certain variability in the other charac-teristics of lime honey (including colour, whichis very light in pure nectar honey). This varia-bility could also be caused by the fact that, dueto the very strong and typical flavour of thishoney, honeys not completely pure may beinterpreted as unifloral.

Sensory description

Visual assessment Colour intensity: light to medium

Colour tone: normal honey colour, with bright tone (yellow)


Description: woody, chemical and fresh


Bitterness: absent to medium Intensity of aroma: strong

Description of aroma: woody, chemical and fresh


Other mouth perceptions: astringent


Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S77T

ilia

hon

ey(2

61 s

ampl

es; 2

411

data

)

Dat

a13

7M

in.

Max

.

22

.916

.61.

055

.910

01

Bu

121

CH

71

F9

1D

532

I19

PG/1

0 g·

103

15.8

9.6

3.0

35.2

371

D9

2I

28

Dat

a22

74M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd33

.313

.111

.055

.081

1F

152

I66

mS/

cm0.

620.

120.

370.

8720

21

B20

1B

u6

1C

H7

2D

882

F13

2I

68

−12.

52.

8−1

8.0

−7.0

821

Bu

72

I75

4.4

0.3

3.9

5.0

120

1B

201

Bu

61

CH

72

F15

2I

72

meq

/kg

20.8

7.7

5.5

36.1

971

B13

1B

u20

1C

H7

1F

92

I48

meq

/kg

3.6

3.0

0.0

9.6

691

B13

1F

82

I48

meq

/kg

23.5

7.0

10.9

35.6

691

B13

1F

82

I48

g/10

0 g

16.9

1.2

14.6

19.3

189

1B

201

Bu

261

CH

72

D91

2F

162

I29

DN

16.8

3.4

10.4

23.6

991

Bu

191

D8

1F

92

I63

U/k

g90

.636

.530

.816

2.7

164

1B

141

Bu

62

D78

1F

42

I62

mg/

kg

352

102

202

554

109

1B

u12

1C

H7

1D

762

I14

g/10

0 g

37.5

2.9

31.7

43.3

179

1B

201

Bu

11

CH

72

D76

2F

162

I59

g/10

0 g

31.9

2.5

27.1

36.8

179

1B

201

Bu

11

CH

72

D76

2F

162

I59

g/10

0 g

1.2

1.9

0.0

5.0

131

1B

201

Bu

11

CH

72

D41

2F

112

I51

g/10

0 g

69.5

4.0

61.5

77.4

179

1B

201

Bu

11

CH

72

D76

2F

162

I59

1.18

0.12

0.94

1.43

179

1B

201

Bu

11

CH

72

D76

2F

162

I59

1.93

0.19

1.55

2.31

146

1B

201

CH

72

D74

2F

162

I29

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

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Dα


HONEYDEW HONEY

Honeydew can be produced by a wide vari-ety of sucking insects on a number of differentConiferae, as Abies alba L. (Central and North-ern Europe), A. cephalonica Loudon (Greece),Picea excelsa (Lam) Link. (Central and North-ern Europe), Pinus halepensis Miller andP. brutia Ten. (Greece), and Latifoliae (pro-duced in most of Europe, mainly from differentQuercus species). The main physicochemicalparameters of the respective honeys show quitehomogeneous values, except for honey fromhoneydew produced by Metcalfa pruinosa(Say), that presents some different characteris-tics. Therefore only this type was kept separate,whereas all the other types are grouped in oneglobal class of “honeydew honeys”. However,it must be underlined that organoleptic charac-teristics and market value of these differenttypes can vary.

Under microscopic examination honeydewhoneys are characterised by the presence ofnumerous honeydew elements (HDE, such asmold hyphae and spores, unicellular algae), andpollen from nectarless plants. In the IHC dataset, the HDE/pollen ratio was often found below

the limit of 3 that, according to Louveaux et al.(1978), should be typical of this honey.

The physicochemical pattern of honeydewhoney includes high values for colour, electri-cal conductivity and pH, positive values of spe-cific rotation and low values of fructose, glu-cose, F+G and G/W. For honeydew honey, theEuropean Directive requires a value of electri-cal conductivity higher than 0.8 mS/cm andallows a minimum F+G of 45 g/100 g.

Sensory description (referred to honey from Abies alba honeydew )


Colour tone: normal honey colour with green fluorescence


Description: woody and warm



Description of aroma: woody and warm


Other mouth perceptions: sometimes astringent

Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: slowOther: it is very commonly of a very thick consistency, due to a low water content

Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S79H

oney

dew

hon

ey(7

21 s

ampl

es; 5

530

data

)

Dat

a24

5M

in.

Max

.

1.5

1.2

0.3

4.0

167

3G

R16

7

PE/1

0 g·

103

151.

811

2.0

35.3

373.

078

1G

R78

Dat

a52

85M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd86

.016

.455

.011

8.3

229

1F

581

GR

832

I88

mS/

cm1.

200.

220.

851.

6364

81

Bu

41

CH

301

D25

71

F58

3G

R19

92

I10

0

13.9

5.7

5.0

25.2

712

I71

5.1

0.3

4.4

5.7

254

1B

u6

1C

H30

1F

582

GR

672

I91

1P

2

meq

/kg

26.0

5.6

16.8

37.1

205

1B

u13

CH

301

F57

2I

871

P18

meq

/kg

2.8

2.0

0.0

6.7

143

1F

562

I87

meq

/kg

28.4

6.1

17.3

40.4

143

1F

562

I87

g/10

0 g

16.1

1.2

13.8

18.5

598

1B

u17

1C

H30

1D

275

1F

584

GR

187

2I

141

P17

DN

22.6

5.6

12.0

33.6

264

1B

u3

1F

572

GR

106

2I

811

P17

U/k

g13

9.0

53.6

59.6

244.

433

11

Bu

61

D23

81

GR

532

I34

mg/

kg

468

127

240

718

305

1B

u1

1C

H30

1D

253

1G

R21

g/10

0 g

32.5

1.9

28.7

36.2

362

1B

u3

1C

H30

1D

202

1F

582

GR

342

I35

g/10

0 g

26.2

2.5

21.3

31.1

362

1B

u3

1C

H30

1D

202

1F

582

GR

342

I35

g/10

0 g

0.8

0.9

0.0

2.6

310

1B

u3

1C

H30

1D

140

1F

582

GR

272

I35

1P

17

g/10

0 g

58.7

3.8

51.2

66.2

362

1B

u3

1C

H30

1D

202

1F

582

GR

342

I35

1.25

0.12

1.01

1.48

362

1B

u3

1C

H30

1D

202

1F

582

GR

342

I35

1.61

0.17

1.27

1.96

336

1C

H30

1D

201

1F

582

GR

342

I13

Num

ber

of

data

Mel

isso

paly

nolo

gica

l pa

ram

eter

s

DE

/PG

Tot

al n

. of

plan

t ele

men

ts

St. D

ev.

Phys

icoc

hem

ical

par

amet

ers

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Num

ber

of

data

St. D

ev.

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Uni

ty

Uni

tyM

ean

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Spe

cifi

c R

otat

ion

pH

Lac

tone

s

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Wat

er

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stas

e (

*)

Mea

n

Fru

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luco

se

Glu

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/ W

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(*)

only

for

fre

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oney

s

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e

Glu

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Suc

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Pro

line

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[]2

0

Dα


METCALFA HONEYDEW HONEY(METCALFA PRUINOSA (SAY) RINCHOTA HOMOPTERA, FLATIDAE)

Metcalfa pruinosa is an insect introduced inEurope at the end of the 1970s and now spreadto Italy, Slovenia and France, where it attacksmany indigenous and cultivated species, givingrise, in summer, to significant quantities of uni-floral honey. On the market this honey is usu-ally sold with the generic denomination of hon-eydew honey.

Under microscopic examination Metcalfahoneydew honeys are characterised by thepresence of numerous honeydew elements(mold hyphae and spores, unicellular algae),and pollen from nectarless plants. The ratioHDE/pollen is mostly higher than 3. Metcalfahoneydew honey shows a very characteristicpattern, with high values of colour, electricalconductivity, diastase, invertase, pH and acid-ity (even beyond the 50 meq/kg limit prescribedby the European Directive), positive values ofspecific rotation and low values of fructose,glucose, F+G and G/W. For honeydew honeys,the European Directive requires a value of elec-

trical conductivity higher than 0.8 mS/cm andallows a minimum F+G content of 45 g/100 g.The sugar spectrum of this honey type alsoincludes a high dextrin content (Fiori et al.,2000).

Sensory description

Visual assessment Colour intensity: very dark



Description: woody, floral – fresh fruit (fruity), warm and vegetal



Description of aroma: woody, floral – fresh fruit (fruity), warm and vegetal


Other mouth perceptions: sometimes astringent

Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: slowOther: it is very commonly of a very thick consistency, due to a low water content

Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S81M

etca

lfa

hone

ydew

hon

ey(1

53 s

ampl

es; 1

610

data

)

Dat

a74

Min

.M

ax.

4.8

6.0

0.2

17.1

372

I37

PE/1

0 g·

103

90.3

53.7

10.5

199.

437

2I

37

Dat

a15

36M

in.

Max

.

mm

Pfu

nd10

0.8

7.5

85.9

115.

782

2I

82

mS/

cm1.

690.

241.

212.

1710

41

F10

2I

94

17.5

6.5

4.5

30.0

832

I83

5.0

0.3

4.5

5.7

972

I97

meq

/kg

37.2

6.6

24.5

50.3

116

2I

116

meq

/kg

4.0

1.2

1.5

6.4

116

2I

116

meq

/kg

41.2

7.0

30.0

55.1

116

2I

116

g/10

0 g

15.9

0.7

14.4

17.4

412

I41

DN

39.3

7.9

23.5

52.7

108

2I

108

U/k

g17

2.0

21.4

135.

921

5.1

452

I45

mg/

kg

515

173

254

860

272

I27

g/10

0 g

31.6

3.2

25.3

37.9

112

1F

102

I10

2

g/10

0 g

23.9

2.7

18.8

29.0

112

1F

102

I10

2

g/10

0 g

0.1

0.1

0.0

0.3

112

1F

102

I10

2

g/10

0 g

55.5

4.5

46.6

64.3

112

1F

102

I10

2

1.34

0.18

0.98

1.69

112

1F

102

I10

2

1.51

0.18

1.22

1.86

412

I41

Fru

ctos

e / G

luco

se

Glu

cose

/ W

ater

(*)

only

for

fre

sh h

oney

s

Fru

ctos

e

Glu

cose

Suc

rose

Fru

ctos

e +

Glu

cose

Wat

er

Dia

stas

e (

*)

Inv

erta

se (

*)

Pro

line

pH

Fre

e A

cidi

ty

Lac

tone

s

Tot

al A

cidi

ty

Col

or

Ele

ctri

cal C

ondu

ctiv

ity

Spe

cifi

c R

otat

ion

Uni

tyPh

ysic

oche

mic

al p

aram

eter

sM

ean

St. D

ev.

Num

ber

of

data

Lab

Cou

ntri

es D

ata

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Tot

al n

. of

plan

t ele

men

ts

Lim

it of

con

fide

nce

95%

Num

ber

of

data

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Cou

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es D

ata

DE

/PGM

elis

sopa

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ers

Uni

tyM

ean

St. D

ev.

[]2

0

Dα

Main European unifloral honeys: descriptive sheets1 · Main European unifloral honeys: descriptive...

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