Abstract
BackgroundThe aim of the present study was to evaluate the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of Malaysian monofloral honey samples—acacia, pineapple and borneo honey—and compare them with tualang honey. Acacia and pineapple honey are produced by Apis mellifera bees while borneo and tualang honey are produced by Apis cerana and Apis dorsata bees, respectively.MethodsThe physical parameters of honey, such as pH, moisture content, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), color intensity, total sugar and apparent sucrose content, were measured. Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) was measured using high performance liquid chromatography, and a number of biochemical and antioxidant tests were performed to determine the antioxidant properties of the honey samples.ResultsAcacia honey was the most acidic (pH 3.53), whereas pineapple honey had the lowest moisture content (14.86%), indicating that both types of honey can resist microbial spoilage more effectively when compared to tualang honey (pH 3.80 and 17.53% moisture content). Acacia honey contained the highest EC (0.76 mS/cm), whereas borneo honey had the highest (377 ppm) TDS. The mean HMF content in Malaysian honey was 35.98 mg/kg. Tualang honey, which is amber color, had the highest color intensity (544.33 mAU). Acacia honey is the sweetest, and contained the highest concentration of total sugar, reducing sugar and apparent sucrose. Tualang honey had the highest concentration of phenolic compounds (352.73 ± 0.81 mg galic acid/kg), flavonoids (65.65 ± 0.74 mg catechin/kg), DPPH (59.89%), FRAP values (576.91 ± 0.64 μM Fe (II)/100 g) and protein content (4.83 ± 0.02 g/kg) as well as the lowest AEAC values (244.10 ± 5.24 mg/kg), indicating its strong antioxidant properties. Proline, an important amino acid that is present in honey was also measured in the present study and it was found at the highest concentration in pineapple honey. Several strong correlations were found among the biochemical and antioxidant parameters of all the Malaysian honeys.ConclusionAlthough Malaysian honeys are of good quality, tualang honey contains the strongest antioxidant properties by far.
Highlights
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of Malaysian monofloral honey samples—acacia, pineapple and borneo honey—and compare them with tualang honey
Honey samples The following four local Malaysian honey samples were analyzed: 1) acacia honey from Apis mellifera was supplied by Koperasi Alnoor from Johor Bharu; 2) pineapple honey from Apis mellifera was supplied by Jabatan Pertanian from Usahawan Lebah Madu Company; 3) borneo honey from Apis cerana, the jungle of Borneo was supplied by Koperasi; and 4) tualang honey from Apis dorsata was supplied by the Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (FAMA) of Malaysia
There were significant differences in the moisture content between the acacia and pineapple honey samples when compared with tualang and borneo honey
Summary
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of Malaysian monofloral honey samples—acacia, pineapple and borneo honey—and compare them with tualang honey. Honey is a natural supersaturated sugar solution, which is mainly composed of a complex mixture of carbohydrates. The quality of honey is determined by its sensorial, chemical, physical and microbiological characteristics [8]. The criteria that define the physicochemical quality of honey are specified by the EC Directive 2001/110 [9]. The comparative physicochemical characteristics of honeys from other regions of the world have been extensively studied [2,3,7,10,11,12], but there is a lack of data on Malaysian honey
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