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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.
Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S41
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 =⋅−
S42 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S43
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)
.
S44 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
Fig
ure
3. C
ontin
ued.
Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S45
Fig
ure
3. C
ontin
ued.
S46 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
Fig
ure
3. C
ontin
ued.
Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S47
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.)
S48 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
Figure 4. Continued.
Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S49
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
S50 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S51
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Serra Bonvehí J. (1988) Determinacion de antranilatode metilo en la miel de citricos (Citrus sp.) delLevante Español, y su influencia en la actividaddiastasica de la miel, Alimentaria 197, 37–40.
Serra Bonvehí J., Granados Tarrés E. (1993)Physicochemical properties, composition andpollen spectrum of ling heather (Calluna vulgaris)(L.) Hull honey produced in Spain, Apidologie 24,586–596.
Serra Bonvehí J., Ventura Coll F. (1995)Characterization of Citrus honey (Citrus spp.)produced in Spain, XXXIV Int. Beekeep. Congr.Apimondia, Lausanne, pp. 358–364.
Talpay B. (1985) Spezifikazionen für Trachthonige,Dtsch. Lebensm. Rundsch. 81, 148–152.
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.
S52 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
%
.
.
S54 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
%
S56 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
Visual assessment Colour intensity: dark to very dark
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
Persistence/aftertaste: long
Other mouth perceptions: astringent
Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: slowOther: it is quite common a fluid consistency, due to a high water content
Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S57C
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
ctiv
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
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
Dia
stas
e (
*)
[]2
0
Dα%
S58 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
Colour tone: normal honey colour
Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: medium
Description: floral – fresh fruit (floral)
Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: weak
Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: medium
Description of aroma: fresh (anise), floral – fresh fruit (floral)
Persistence/aftertaste: short to medium
Other mouth perceptions: -
Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: moderate
Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S59C
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%
S60 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: weak
Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: medium
Description of aroma: woody, warm and spoiled
Persistence/aftertaste: medium
Other mouth perceptions: -
Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: moderate
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
S62 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
S64 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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)
Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: medium
Description: woody, floral – fresh fruit (floral) and vegetal
Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: medium
Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: medium
Description of aroma: woody, fresh, floral - fresh fruit and warm
Persistence/aftertaste: medium
Other mouth perceptions: aftertaste sometimes present (blackcurrant)
Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: moderate
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
S66 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
Visual assessment Colour intensity: very light
Colour tone: normal honey colour
Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: weak
Description: woody and floral – fresh fruit
Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: weak
Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: weak
Description of aroma: woody, fresh, floral – fresh fruit (fruity) and warm
Persistence/aftertaste: short
Other mouth perceptions: -
Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: moderate
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
S68 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
Visual assessment Colour intensity: very light
Colour tone: normal honey colour
Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: weak
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
Persistence/aftertaste: short
Other mouth perceptions: -
Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: slow
Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S69R
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
S70 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
Visual assessment Colour intensity: very light
Colour tone: normal honey colour
Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: weak to medium
Description: fresh, floral – fresh fruit and vegetal
Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: weak
Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: weak to medium
Description of aroma: fresh, floral – fresh fruit and vegetal
Persistence/aftertaste: short
Other mouth perceptions: -
Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: moderate
Unifloral honeys descriptive sheets S71R
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
S72 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: strong
Description: spoiled
Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: medium
Bitterness: absent to weak Intensity of aroma: strong
Description of aroma: woody and spoiled
Persistence/aftertaste: long
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
S74 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
Colour tone: normal honey colour
Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: medium
Description: woody, chemical, fresh and floral – fresh fruit (floral)
Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: medium
Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: medium to strong
Description of aroma: woody, chemical, fresh and floral – fresh fruit
Persistence/aftertaste: medium
Other mouth perceptions: -
Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: moderate
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
S76 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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)
Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: strong
Description: woody, chemical and fresh
Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: weak
Bitterness: absent to medium Intensity of aroma: strong
Description of aroma: woody, chemical and fresh
Persistence/aftertaste: long
Other mouth perceptions: astringent
Physical characteristics Crystallisation rate: moderate
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
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
Pol
len
abso
lute
num
ber
Phys
icoc
hem
ical
par
amet
ers
Lab
Cou
ntri
es D
ata
Num
ber
of
data
St. D
ev.
Mea
nU
nity
Lim
it of
con
fide
nce
95%
Lim
it of
con
fide
nce
95%
Num
ber
of
data
Lab
Cou
ntri
es D
ata
Spe
cifi
c po
llen
Mel
isso
paly
nolo
gica
l pa
ram
eter
sU
nity
Mea
nSt
. Dev
.
% []2
0
Dα
S78 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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 )
Visual assessment Colour intensity: dark to very dark
Colour tone: normal honey colour with green fluorescence
Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: medium
Description: woody and warm
Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: weak
Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: medium
Description of aroma: woody and warm
Persistence/aftertaste: medium
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
Dia
stas
e (
*)
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
[]2
0
Dα
S80 L. Persano Oddo, R. Piro
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
Colour tone: normal honey colour
Olfactory assessment Intensity of odour: medium
Description: woody, floral – fresh fruit (fruity), warm and vegetal
Tasting assessment Sweetness: medium Acidity: weak
Bitterness: absent Intensity of aroma: medium
Description of aroma: woody, floral – fresh fruit (fruity), warm and vegetal
Persistence/aftertaste: medium
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
Lab
Cou
ntri
es D
ata
DE
/PGM
elis
sopa
lyno
logi
cal
para
met
ers
Uni
tyM
ean
St. D
ev.
[]2
0
Dα