Physico-chemical and chemometric study of honeys from the State of Pará

Abstract

Honey is a product produced by bees from the nectar of flowers collected by it, and is considered a viscous fluid with a high concentration of sugars, especially glucose and fructose, in addition to organic acids, minerals and other compounds. Brazil is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of honey. This is due to environmental conditions, plant diversity in its territory and climatic variability, which leads to a year-round production of honey. In Pará, the climate and plant diversity, among other factors, favor the breeding of bees, however the quality control of honey from Pará is still reduced. This work sought to analyze, in physicochemical terms, honeys produced by bees of the species Apis mellifera, from four different locations in northeastern Pará. The pH varied, on average, between 2.98 to 4.30; electrical conductivity varied between 48.80 mS / cm to 154.02 mS / cm; the ashes varied between 1.45 % to 3.05 %; the humidity varied between 18.89 % to 21.58 %; reducing sugars ranged from 58.08 % to 65.26 %; total soluble solids ranged from 76.96ºBrix to 79.72ºBrix; total insoluble solids ranged from 0.29 % to 0.55 %; the density varied between 1.401 g/mL to 1.467 g/mL; the predominant color was dark amber; viscosity ranged from 247.56 cSt to 377.72 cSt; and the acidity varied between 1.68 meq/kg to 4.70 meq/kg. The multivariate statistical techniques of PCA and HCA proved to be efficient in separating the studied samples according to their origin.