Floral Origin Identification and Amino Acid Profiles of Chinese Unifloral Honeys

Figures & data

Table 1  Pollen identification and sensory characteristics of Chinese unifloral honeys.^a

Categories	Sample ID	Floral origin (frequency)	Place of production	Color	Consistency	Aroma and taste
Acacia	H1	Robinia pseudoacacia L. (61.7%)	Western Gansu Province	Colorless	Crystallized, creamy	Light fragrant, mellow
	H2	Robinia pseudoacacia L. (62.1%)	Northern Shannxi Provence	White	Crystallized, creamy	Light fragrant, mellow
	H3	Robinia pseudoacacia L. (66.7%)	Kunming, Yunnan Province	Colorless	Clear, viscous	Sophora aroma, mellow
Vetch	H4	Vicia cracca L. (71.6%)	Yunnan Province	Ivory	Crystallized, creamy	Light fragrant, mellow
	H5	Vicia cracca L. (71.7%)	Changbai Mountains, Northeast of China	Ivory	Crystallized, creamy	Light fragrant, mellow
	H6	Vicia cracca L. (60.9%)	Jiangsu Province	Pale amber	Crystallized, creamy	Light fragrant
	H7	Vicia cracca L. (67.7%)	Sichuan Province	Pale amber	Noncrystalline	Light fragrant, mellow
Linden	H8	Tilia spp. (69.1%)	Tonghua, Jilin Province	Amber	Crystallized, creamy	Strong fragrant, mellow
	H9	Tilia mandschurica (76.8%)	Xing'an Forestry, Heilongjiang Province	Less amber	Crystallized	Mellow
	H10	Tilia mandschurica (69.1%)	Huadian County, Jilin Province	Pale amber	Noncrystalline	Fragrant
	H11	Tilia mandschurica (65.1%)	Antu County, Jilin Province	Pale amber	Crystallized, creamy	Strong fragrant
	H12	Tilia mandschurica (69.0%)	Xing'an Forestry, Heilongjiang Province	Pale amber	Noncrystalline	Strong fragrant
Coptidis	H13	Coptis chinensis (67.8%)	Changbai Mountains, Northeast of China	Pale yellow	Noncrystalline, transparent	Sweet, light bitter
	H14	Coptis chinensis (62.4%)	Sichuan Province	Yellow	Noncrystalline, transparent	Sweet, light bitter, agreeable sweetness
	H15	Coptis chinensis (62.4%)	Longyao, Hebei Province	Yellow	Noncrystalline, transparent	Sweet, light bitter, agreeable sweetness
	H16	Coptis chinensis (60.1%)	Beijing	Yellow	Noncrystalline	Sweet, light bitter
Red date	H17	Ziziphus jujuba Mill. (66.4%)	Dali County, Shannxi Province	Dark amber	Noncrystalline, transparent	Syrupy
	H18	Ziziphus jujuba Mill. (61.0%)	Zhongning, Ningxia	Dark amber, reddish	Noncrystalline	Syrupy, heavy aftertaste
	H19	Ziziphus jujuba Mill. (65.7%)	Xinjiang Autonomous Region	Amber	Noncrystalline	Syrupy
	H20	Ziziphus jujuba Mill. (67.7%)	Shandong Province	Less amber	Noncrystalline	Syrupy, heavy aftertaste
Astragalus	H21	Astragalus microcephalus Willd. (72.4%)	Northern Zhejiang Province	White	Noncrystalline	Fragrant, mellow
	H22	Astragalus microcephalus Willd. (74.8%)	Ganshu Province	Less amber	Crystallized, creamy	Fragrant, mellow
	H23	Astragalus microcephalus Willd. (60.4%)	Southern Zhejiang Province	Less amber	Noncrystalline	Fragrant
Codonopsis	H24	Codonopsis pilosula (Franch.) Nannf. (71.8%)	Eastern Ganshu Province	Less amber	Noncrystalline viscous	Fragrant, sweet
	H25	Codonopsis pilosula (Franch.) Nannf. (68.6%)	Northern Ganshu Province	Less amber	Noncrystalline	Fragrant, sweet
	H26	Codonopsis pilosula (Franch.) Nannf. (61.3%)	Ganshu Province	Less amber	Noncrystalline	Fragrant, sweet
Eriobotrya	H27	Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. (62.7%)	Fujian Province	Light amber	Crystallized, granulated	Fragrant, mellow
	H28	Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. (68.0%)	Zhejiang Province	Amber	Crystallized	Fragrant, mellow
	H29	Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. (61.2%)	Zhejiang Province	Light amber	Noncrystalline	Fragrant
Eucalyptus	H30	Eucalyptus robusta Smith. (70.5%)	Guangdong Province	Dark amber	Crystallized, granulated	Eudesmol odor, sweet, light sour
	H31	Eucalyptus robusta Smith. (65.4%)	Fujian Province	Brown	Crystallized, granulated	Eudesmol odor, sweet, light sour
	H32	Eucalyptus exserta F. Muell. (66.2%)	Guangxi Province	Brown, reddish	Noncrystalline	Eudesmol odor, sweet, light sour
	H33	Eucalyptus citriodora Hook. F (63.9%)	Guangxi Province	Dark amber	Noncrystalline	Lemon odor, sweet, light astringent
^aGB 18796-2005 China Mandatory National Standards were utilized.

Figure 1 Micro-structure of pollen granules from several unifloral honeys. (a) Acacia honey; (b) Vetch honey; (c) Linden honey; (d) Red date honey; (e) Coptidis honey. (Color figure available online.)

Figure 2 Chromatogram of amino acids. (a) Chromatogram of 17 amino acid standards; (b) typical chromatogram of a sample (Linden honey). 1. Asp; 2. Glu; 3. Ser; 4. Gly; 5. His; 6. Arg; 7. Thr; 8. Ala; 9. Pro; 10. Tyr; 11. Val; 12. Met; 13. Cys; 14. Ile; 15. Leu; 16. Nle (internal standard); 17. Phe; 18. Lys. (Color figure available online.)

Table 2 Amino acid contents of 33 Chinese unifloral honeys.^a

Categories of honey	Sample ID	Proline content (mg/kg honey)	Total amino acid content (17 free amino acids) (mg/kg honey)
Acacia	H1	191.1 ± 16.5 ^a B	341.4 ± 9.62 ^a C
	H2	268.6 ± 16.9 ^b B	351.3 ± 9.46 ^ab C
	H3	284.0 ± 18.8 ^b B	370.9 ± 5.83 ^b E
Vetch	H4	151.7 ± 9.35 ^a A	268.4 ± 7.90 ^b B
	H5	147.1 ± 10.9 ^a A	280.0 ± 8.26 ^b B
	H6	141.5 ± 9.18 ^a A	240.4 ± 9.60 ^a A
	H7	139.2 ± 8.62 ^a A	263.1 ± 6.98 ^b B
Linden	H8	368.4 ± 10.1 ^a EF	694.4 ± 11.1 ^a KL
	H9	411.5 ± 6.26 ^b G	780.4 ± 6.40 ^c O
	H10	451.0 ± 11.5 ^c IJ	750.9 ± 4.27 ^b N
	H11	438.1 ± 10.7 ^c GHI	684.8 ± 9.94 ^a K
	H12	439.3 ± 10.8 ^c HI	810.5 ± 1.10 ^d P
Coptidis	H13	451.5 ± 13.9 ^b IJ	800.5 ± 11.2 ^d P
	H14	467.3 ± 6.99 ^b J	710.7 ± 3.30 ^c LM
	H15	392.3 ± 8.70 ^a GH	625.6 ± 3.92 ^a I
	H16	381.1 ± 12.1 ^a F	610.2 ± 6.19 ^a IJ
Red date	H17	541.7 ± 12.9 ^a LM	810.9 ± 8.16 ^c P
	H18	521.2 ± 9.93 ^a KL	729.9 ± 5.29 ^b M
	H19	511.6 ± 8.08 ^a K	710.9 ± 0.88 ^a LM
	H20	541.8 ± 18.3 ^a LM	717.7 ± 7.53 ^ab M
Astragalus	H21	271.1 ± 8.12 ^a C	401.5 ± 3.68 ^a EF
	H22	267.9 ± 16.4 ^a C	379.5 ± 15.1 ^a E
	H23	278.3 ± 12.9 ^a C	388.9 ± 11.7 ^a DE
Codonopsis	H24	351.8 ± 8.27 ^b DE	546.4 ± 4.69 ^b H
	H25	327.1 ± 13.5 ^a D	518.6 ± 2.97 ^a G
	H26	361.4 ± 5.49 ^b EF	596.4 ± 7.73 ^c I
Eriobotrya	H27	285.2 ± 16.0 ^a C	410.9 ± 4.32 ^a F
	H28	279.8 ± 8.65 ^a C	398.4 ± 4.90 ^a EF
	H29	291.2 ± 8.40 ^a C	411.4 ± 10.4 ^a F
Eucalyptus	H30	631.5 ± 8.71 ^b N	768.7 ± 7.01 ^b NO
	H31	551.1 ± 8.74 ^a M	710.8 ± 21.6 ^a LM
	H32	568.2 ± 14.6 ^a M	754.4 ± 13.9 ^b N
	H33	547.8 ± 15.4 ^a LM	812.3 ± 11.1 ^c P
^aData are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (n = 3). Values marked by the same small case letter within the same floral source in each column are not significantly different (p < 0.05). Values marked by the same capital letter within each column are not significantly different (p < 0.05).