Preliminary characterization of a Moroccan honey with a predominance of Bupleurum spinosum pollen

• Autor(a) principal: Elamine, Youssef
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Aazza, Smail, Lyoussi, Badiâa, Dulce Antunes, Maria, Estevinho, Letícia M., Anjos, O., Resende, Mafalda, Faleiro, Maria Leonor, Miguel, Maria Graça
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.11/6457
• topic: Honey; food quality, melanoidins, natural antioxidants

This study aimed to characterize the pollen and physicochemical profiles, and to evaluate the anti-oxidant capacity of six samples of Moroccan honey. The pollen grains of Eragrostis spp. Were predominant in all samples (from a minimum of 46.5861.59% to 72.7262.43% as a maximum), exceeding the minimum (generally 45%) required for the monoflorality nomination of a honey sample, and suggestion a case of newly reported honey. The analyzed samples had low diastase activity and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) content. Potassium was the dominant element in practi-cally all samples, except the sample with the highest Eragrostis spp. pollen percentage, which showed sodium predominance. The honey color ranged from water white to light amber, and posi-tively correlated the concentrations of phenols, proline and the capacity for scavenging free radicals. However, great variability observed in all the analyzed parameters, and could not be explained by the variability of the Eragrostis spp. pollen percentage, which suggests a hypothesis of low concentrated nectar.