Suitability of antioxidant capacity, flavonoids and phenolic acids for floral authentication of honey. Impact of industrial thermal treatment.

Total antioxidant activity, physicochemical parameters, and the profile of flavonoids and phenolic acid compounds were evaluated for: their ability to distinguish between the botanical origins of four types of Spanish honey, the impact of industrial thermal treatment, and the effect of the year of collection. Citrus honey had the lowest levels of all the analysed variables, then rosemary and polyfloral, and honeydew the highest ones. Botanical origin affects the profile of flavonoids and phenolic compounds sufficiently to permit discrimination thanks to the predominance of particular compounds such as: hesperetin (in citrus honey); kaempferol, chrysin, pinocembrin, caffeic acid and naringenin (in rosemary honey) and myricetin, quercetin, galangin and particularly p-coumaric acid (in honeydew honey).

Volatile fraction composition and physicochemical parameters as tools for the differentiation of lemon blossom honey and orange blossom honey.

Background: Volatile fraction profile and physicochemical parameters were studied with the aim of evaluating their effectiveness for the differentiation between lemon blossom honey (Citrus limon L.) and orange blossom honey (Citrus spp.).