Honey marker compounds

A high content of hesperetin was detected in citrus honey samples (Ferreres et ah, 1993, 1994b,c,e). 8-Methoxy-kaempferol was the main compound in rosemary honey samples, whereas luteolin was the main compound in lavender honey samples (Ferreres et ah, 1994b, 1998). Quercetin was used as a marker for differentiating for sunflower honey... 

Some phenolic acids such as ellagic acid can be used as floral markers of heather honey (Cherchi et al., 1994 Ferreres et al., 1996a,b), and the hydroxyciimamates (caffeic, p-coumaric, and ferulic acids) as floral markers of chestnut honey (Cherchi et al., 1994). Pinocembrin, pinobanksin, and chrysin are the characteristic flavonoids of propolis, and these flavo-noid compounds have been found in most European honey samples (Tomas-Barberan et al., 2001). However, for lavender and acacia honeys, no specific phenolic compoimds could be used as suitable floral markers (Tomas-Barberan et al., 2001). Other potential phytochemical markers like abscisic acid may become floral markers in heather honey (Cherchi et al., 1994). Abscisic acid was also detected in rapeseed, lime, and acacia honey samples (Tomas-Barberan et al., 2001). Snow and Manley-Harris (2004) studied antimicrobial activity of phenolics. 

Bianchi, F., Careri, M., and Musci, M. (2005). Volatile norisoprenoids as markers of botanical origin of Sardinian strawberry-tree (Arbutus unedo L.) honey Characterisation of aroma compounds by dynamic headspace extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Food Chem. 89,527-532. 

Odeh, I., Abu-Lafi, S., Dewik, H., Al-Najjar, 1., Imam, A., Dembitsky, V. M., and Hanus, L. O. (2007). A variety of volatile compounds as markers in Palestinian honey from Thymus capitatus, Thymelaea hirsuta, and Tolpis virgata. Food Chem. 101,1393-1397. 

Many methods have been used for the determination of the floral and geographical origin of honey, and these include analysis of pollen content, sensory analysis, volatile compounds, phenols, and markers [32], Some of these, however, are time and labor intensive and/or require technical personnel. With this in mind, Benedetti and colleagues have used an electronic nose equipped with 10 MOSFET s and 12 MOS sensors to generate a pattern of the volatile compounds present in 70 honey samples... 

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