By A. Bentabol Manzanares, Z. Hernández García, B. Rodríguez Galdón, E. Rodríguez Rodríguez, C. Díaz Romero
Honey is a concentrated aqueous solution of sugars containing 200 different substances (Ferreira, Aires, Barreira, & Estevinho,2009). The major components are carbohydrates emphasizingfructose and glucose; but other minor components including, oli-gosaccharides, polysaccharides, enzymes, aminoacids, organicacids,minerals, flavonoids,vitamins,pollengrains,waxesandotherphytochemicals, are also present (Belitz, Grosch, & Schieberle,2009). Polyphenolic compounds have been recognized as the major constituents responsible for health-promoting properties of honey. Therefore their identification and quantification are of great interest to know the contribution to the overall bioactivity of honey(Cavazza, Corradini, Musci, & Salvadeo, 2013; Keckes et al., 2013).This complex chemical composition depends on the botanicalorigin and the nectar chemical composition of honey-producing plants or secretions (Belitz et al., 2009).
An increasing commercial interest to produce monofloral honey is being observed due to many consumers appreciate the possibility to choose between different types of mono
floral honeys. Adulteration of honey is possible, so its quality must be controlled analytically with the aim of guaranteeing the authenticity andprotecting the consumer against commercial speculation. Microscopical and sensory analyses must be kept as a tool of primary interest. However, its conclusions cannot regard as entirely decisive for determining the botanical origin of monofloral honeys. These analyses need to be complemented by analytical determinations, especially for honey samples with pollen percentage near the limits to be considered as monofloral honeys. Physicochemical parameters, carbohydrates profile, mineral content, and recently thephenolic compound profiles, together with several chemometric techniques have been suggested as criteria for the characterizationof mono
floral honeys (Arvaritoyannis, Chalhoub, Gotsiou, Lydakis-Simantiris, & Kefalas, 2005; Cavazza et al., 2013; Keckes et al.,2013). An excellent degree of agreement between phenolic compound profiles and botanical originin different types of honeys was found using chemometric evaluation (Cavazza et al., 2013). We have recently achieved to differentiate blossom and honeydew honeys applying linear discriminant analysis (LDA) (Bentabol Manzanares, Hernández García, Rodríguez Galdón, & RodríguezRodríguez, 2011) on the same physicochemical and sugar parameters analyzed in this paper. There are not many data of the chemical composition about less common Spanish nectar honeys. This is particularly relevant in the Canary Islands where vegetable endemism are very abundant, and consequently, several monfloral honeys are produced only in this region (Serra Bonvehi, Bentabol Manzanares, &Santos Villar, 2004). The present study was undertaken to characterise the physico-chemical properties of nine rare monofloral honeys (avocado, heather, barrilla, agave o pitera, poleo, relinchón, malpica, tedera and oregano) produced in Tenerife, Spain.
