"Portuguese honey: A quality study of 25 different brands."

Honey is produced throughout the world. Therefore the honey is of different taste and quality depending on the pollen source. Furthermore, honey is often transported over long distances and this might affect honey quality. Honey quality is quantified by moisture content (indicates freshness), diastase activity (also indicates honey freshness), saccharose content (indicates sugar feeding or addition of saccharose), and hydroxyl-methyl-furfural (HMF). The EU limit for HMF is less than 40 mg/kg (ppm).

Mendes et al. (1998) studied honey quality of 25 brands that were commercially available in Portugal. The authors bought 18 Portugese- and 7 foreign honey brands. These brands contained unifloral and multifloral honey types. Mendes et al. (1998) collected data on moisture, diastase activity, HMF content and sugar composition among others.

The average moisture content ranged from 13.6 to 19.2% (Mendes et al., 1998). Diastase activity ranged from 3 to 22°C. There were nine (9) honey brands that had diastase activity of less than 8°C indicating that these brands were not fresh.

Hydroxyl-methyl-furfural (HMF) was detected by HPLC and ranged from 1.7 to 471 mg/kg (ppm). These data indicated quite some variation in HMF content in honey. There were 13 brands that had a combined diastase activity of above 8°C and HMF content of less than 40 mg/kg (ppm), and are, therefore, considered to have a high degree of freshness (Mendes et al., 1998).

Sugar composition was determined by HPLC using a refractive index detector. The minimum EU level for reducing sugars (fructose and glucose) is 65% (Mendes et al., 1998). There were only three brands (two Portugese and one foreign) below 65%. Of these, two brands showed a mean saccharose content of 8 % (EU limit is 5.0%). The fructose to glucose ratio ranged from 1.03 to 1.33.

In conclusion, of the 25 brands Mendes et al (1998) studied only 13 were considered of good quality and freshness following the EU standards. The other 12 brands were lacking in quality either due to diastase activity, HMF content, or sugar composition. The authors conclude that this lack of quality might be due to poor processing and storage and/or the age of the honey.

Reference:
Mendes, E., E. Brojo Proença, I.M.P.L.V.O. Ferreira, and M.A. Ferreira.1998. Quality evaluation of Portuguese honey. Carbohydrate Polymers. 37:219-223.

Photo: Courtesy Beehavin’ Apiary