The chemical composition and sensory characteristics vary significantly within different honey types. In order to determine botanical origin of honey, it is necessary to conduct rather complicated and time consuming analytical methods. IR spectroscopy has not yet been experimentally explored for honey analysis in Croatia, so the aim of this study was to determine claimed botanical origin of honey using both, standard and alternative (IR spectroscopy) methods, for the purpose of their comparison, Altogether 144 samples of nine different unifloral honey types (black locust, sweet chestnut, lime, sage, heath, rosemary, lavender, mandarin and strawberry tree) were collected from different Croatian regions directly from the beekeepers. In order to confirm claimed botanical origin of collected honey samples, melissopalinological analysis, moisture and electrical conductivity measurements were conducted. Infrared spectra of honey samples were recorded using the ABB Bomem MB102 Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR spectrometer). Selected IR spectral regions were analyzed by multivariate data analysis, principal components analysis (PCA). Preliminary PCA of IR spectra showed significant clustering of the analyzed samples by botanical origin. The results of this study showed that IR spectroscopy provides reliable results, but also represents rapid and cheap analytical tool in comparison to commonly used standard analytical methods. This research has also provided the first insight in infrared spectra of Croatian honeys.

honey; botanical origin; standardized analytical methods; infrared spectroscopy

Published by University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb, CROATIA
Sponsored by Ministry Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia