Cornflower Honey as a Model for Authentication of Unifloral Honey Using Classical Methods Combined with Plant-Based Marker Substances Such as Lumichrome

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

According to legislation, unifloral honeys are characterized by their organoleptic, physicochemical, and microscopic properties. Melissopalynology is the established method for identifying the pollen taken up with the floral nectar by forager bees and is used for authentication of the nectar sources in honey. For cornflower honey (Centaurea cyanus), the pollen input does not correlate with the nectar input, because the nectar is produced both in floral and in extrafloral nectaries. The well-known cornflower marker lumichrome has now also been detected in the extrafloral nectar. Therefore, lumichrome is a suitable marker substance for cornflower honey. Four different methods for the sole analysis of lumichrome in honey were validated and compared. Studies over nine years have shown that unifloral cornflower honey should contain approximately 35 mg/kg lumichrome. For a further differentiated cornflower honey specific verification, other nonvolatile compounds like 7-carboxylumichrome and volatiles, such as 3,4-dihydro-3-oxoedulan I and 3,4-dihydro-3-oxoedulan II, should be analyzed. This enables a more specific accuracy for the classification of unifloral cornflower honey.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)11406-11416
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of agricultural and food chemistry
Volume69
Issue number38
Publication statusPublished - 29 Sept 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 34529418

Keywords

Keywords

  • cornflower honey, fluorescence, HPLC-FLD, HPLC-PDA, HS-SPME-GC/MS, lumichrome, TLC, UHPLC-MS/MS