Mellisopallinological characterisation of unifloral honeys from artisan and commercial obtainment produced in Galicia (NW of Spain) from its pollen spectra.

Abstract

An analysis was made of 49 honeys produced in NW of Spain (Ourense-Galicia), 37 of homemade production and 12 commercialized with quality label “Mel de Galicia” (Galician Honey). Its flower origin was determinate by the method of percentage pollen analysis and its protein content by Bradford method. They resulted to be 9 chestnut tree (Castanea sativa) and 6 bramble (Rubus ulmifolius-t.) unifloral, one Cytisus scoparius- t. unifloral and the other honeys was multifloral with predominance of chestnut (Castanea sativa), bramble (Rubus ulmifolius-t.), shrubland (Erica sp.) with gorse (Cytisus scoparius–t.) or heather. It was found 9 homemade honeys belonged to the Maurizio’s Class I, 9 to the Class II, 9 to the Class III, 7 to the Class IV and 3 belong to the Class V. Among the commercial honeys, 4 belong to the Class IV and 8 to the Class V. The value of protein in the honeys varied from 0.8 to 5.2 mg prot./g honey. The average was 1.95mg prot./g honey for homemade honeys, and 3.1 mg prot./g honey for commercial ones. This wide variation resulted as homemade like commercial honeys, and in this last it seem even to be higher.