Hydroxy Fatty Acids as Novel Markers for Authenticity Identification of the Honey Entomological Origin Based on the GC-MS Method.

The authenticity of honey is generally a worldwide concern, and there is a pressing need to establish a suitable entomological method to identify the authenticity of Apis cerana cerana (A. cerana) and Apis mellifera ligustica (A. mellifera) honey. Hydroxy fatty acids as bee-derived components are known to widely exist in honey and other biosamples. Herein, we present an identification strategy for hydroxy fatty acids based on the relative quantification with reference to royal jelly and targeted quantification combined with multivariate statistical analysis to identify the honey entomological origin. Multivariate statistical analysis was used to further determine differential hydroxy fatty acids between A. cerana honey and A. mellifera honey. Results showed that 8-hydroxyoctanoic acid (96.20-253.34 versus 0-32.46 mg kg-1) and 3,10-dihydroxydecanoic acid (1.96-6.56 versus 0-0.35 mg kg-1) could be used as markers for accurate identification of the honey entomological origin, while the three fraud honey samples were recognized using this method. This study provides the novel marker hydroxy fatty acids to identify A. cerana honey and A. mellifera honey from the perspective of bee-derived component differences.

Natural crystallization properties of honey and seed crystals-induced crystallization process for honey performance enhancing.

Honey crystallization is a common occurrence, while the underlying mechanisms are not clear. Here we evaluated natural crystallization and induced crystallization of honey. By using the method of microscopy, colorimetry, rheology, texture, and calorimetry to investigate the main physical and structural properties and compare with honey seed crystals-induced crystallization in six unifloral honey. The results showed honey transformed into a pseudoplastic fluid during natural crystallization, with the increase of L-value, firmness and cohesiveness and the fastest crystallization rate occurring at 14 °C and water content of 16%. The effect of the addition of seed crystals in the honey crystallization can be summarized as the acceleration of crystallization rate (3 times) and the improvement of crystallization characteristics including uniform particles and reducing stratification. This study provides insight into honey crystallization theory and a resource for the further exploration and development of the new performance of honey products.