Honey occupies a special place in many pantries, not only because it is a highly valued natural sweetenerbut also for its antioxidant properties, its antibacterial potential, and a range of sensory nuances that vary depending on the flowers the bees visit. All this "character" makes it a product of High value addedwhere accurately identifying its origin has become a key element in an increasingly demanding market.
The type of flower determines the aroma, flavor, color, and even price of each jar. Monofloral honeys, such as eucalyptus, rosemary, or orange blossom honeys, come largely from a single nectar and are valued for their clear and recognizable aromatic profile. Multifloral honeys blend nectars from various plants and have more varied flavors. Although an expert taster can notice these differences, It is not always easy to verify them when the product is packaged and we only have the label.
The importance of knowing which flower the honey comes from
Supermarket shelves are filled with very different types of honey, and this complexity has given rise to inaccurate labeling, undeclared mixtures or questionable botanical origins. Traditional control methods do not always allow for clear confirmation of whether a honey is truly monofloral or for reliably identifying which flower it comes from.
Given this scenario, the European beekeeping sector finds itself needing to more reliable scientific tools that support commercial designations, strengthen consumer confidence, and protect producers who do comply with the regulations. It's not just a matter of transparency, but also of preserving the competitiveness of quality honey against potential fraud.
In this context, the work of the research group comes into play. “Analytical Chemistry of Contaminants”, from the Department of Chemistry and Physics of the University of Almería (UAL)Their approach stems from a simple yet powerful idea: each honey possesses a unique chemical profile, a kind of fingerprint, which can be read if the appropriate technology is available.
Analyzing that set of substances, known in the scientific field as metabolomics fingerprintResearchers have developed an analytical methodology capable of very accurately differentiating between monofloral and multifloral honeys. This combination of compounds acts as chemical signature of the food, which opens the door to much more objective verifications than a simple tasting.
A study focused on the aroma of honey
The work, published in the journal Food Chemistry with the title “Innovative SALLE-GC-Orbitrap-HRMS-based metabolomics and multi-technique data fusion: A combined approach for botanical marker identification of monofloral and multifloral honey”, has focused for the first time on honeys from eucalyptus, rosemary and orange blossomvarieties that are very representative in the Spanish market.
The key to the study lies in the volatile profile of honey, that is, in the compounds responsible for its aroma. Although many of them appear in very small quantities, they are precisely the ones that They more faithfully reflect the original flowerDelving deeper into that “chemical fragrance” allows one to read the botanical origin with considerable accuracy.
From a chemical standpoint, honey is a very complex matrix, containing hundreds of different substances. Most of these are sugars, but it also includes organic acids, phenolic compounds, minerals, and a vast array of other compounds. volatile moleculesIt is these latter characteristics that, combined, create a unique pattern for each type of flower and allow us to distinguish one sample from another.
The UAL team analyzed 40 samples of honey marketed in Spain and managed to identify seven main compounds which act as markers of botanical origin. Thanks to these indicators, it is possible to clearly distinguish honeys that come mainly from a single flower from those that come from other flowers. multifloral, in which the chemical signal is diluted among different nectars.
Upon examining the data, it was observed that Some chemical signals appear with particular intensity in eucalyptus honeyassociated with more balsamic aromas. In the case of orange blossom honey, the presence of caffeineThis compound, which occurs naturally in citrus flowers, helps to clearly identify the scent. In contrast, rosemary samples and many multifloral samples showed more complex and less defined profiles.
According to the UAL researcher Alba Navarro-Herrera, co-author of the study, “in multifloral honeys the chemical signature is more dispersed, while in monofloral honeys a clearer pattern is observed, with a greater presence of compounds that allow clearly identify the floral originThis difference is the basis of the statistical models that separate the different varieties with success rates close to one hundred percent in some analyses.
The role of salt in aroma extraction
One of the most striking advances of the study concerns how to access all that aromatic information. Unlike traditional methodologies, which often have difficulties in efficiently isolate the most relevant compoundsThe UAL group has introduced an additional, simple but very effective step: the use of common salt during the extraction process.
The technique relies on a solution of water with saltwhich acts as a means to better separate the substances of interest. Adding salt helps to separate the volatile compounds responsible for the aroma pass into an organic solvent, while the sugars, which make up most of the honey but provide little information about its origin, remain in the aqueous phase.
This procedure, known in the technical field as a variant of salt-assisted extraction, allows you to obtain a much cleaner and more concentrated extract in aromatic compounds. Reducing the background chemical “noise” facilitates the subsequent work of high-resolution analytical equipment, such as the chromatography and mass spectrometry systems used in the study.
According to the group, this improvement in the recovery of volatile substances translates into a clearer reading of the chemical fingerprint of each honey. In other words, the salt helps to better "capture" the authentic aroma of the product, leaving aside anything that does not provide clear clues about the flower of origin.
The UAL researcher Antonia Garrido, also an author of the study, emphasizes the main motivation behind the work: honey is a high value-added product that is frequently targeted by fraudTherefore, new tools are needed to strengthen transparency and reliability in the food chain. The development of these types of analytical methods is precisely in that direction.
Metabolomic fingerprint: a chemical signature for each honey
The concept of metabolomics fingerprint It is central to this research. It is an approach that is not limited to one or two isolated compounds, but rather analyzes complete sets of molecules present in honey, both volatile and less volatile, to obtain a global picture of the product.
In practice, the “Analytical Chemistry of Contaminants” group has combined data from aromatic compounds with other previously developed chemical analyses, focused on more specific substances. stable and less volatile which also depend on the botanical origin. This fusion of techniques It provides a much richer view of the chemical profile of each sample.
The UAL researcher Araceli Rivera, co-author of the work, highlights that this integration of information allows for the construction of a “much more complete” metabolomic fingerprint, which It significantly increases the ability to distinguish monofloral from multifloral honeys and improves reliability when assigning a specific botanical origin.
To process all this data, we use advanced statistical tools and classification modelsThese tests are capable of identifying patterns that are not evident to the naked eye. Thanks to them, the combination of compounds found in each sample translates into a probable label: eucalyptus, rosemary, orange blossom, or multifloral.
The results show that not all varieties separate with the same clarity. While the honeys of Eucalyptus trees have a particularly defined footprint., with very characteristic markers, those of rosemary and many multifloral They tend to have a more dispersed profile. Even so, the degree of success achieved in the trials suggests that this approach is very promising as a control tool.
Applications for quality control and fraud prevention
Beyond its scientific interest, the technique developed by the University of Almería has direct implications for the beekeeping sector in Spain and throughout Europe. One of its most obvious applications is the verification of the floral origin indicated on the labeling, something fundamental in a market where trust is as important as taste.
On the one hand, the method allows to verify if a honey really comes from the flower it claims to come from its packaging. On the other hand, it facilitates the detection of mixtures not indicated or combinations of nectars that could alter the advertised monofloral profile. In this way, the systems are reinforced quality certification and traceability that are in high demand by both consumers and producers.
The authors of the study emphasize that the main advantage of this approach is the high degree of reliability in the identification of chemical markersIn some analyses, the classification capacity has reached success rates very close to one hundred percent, placing this methodology on par with the demands of the strictest official controls.
For beekeepers who work with monofloral honeysEspecially for those operating under differentiated quality labels, having an independent tool that guarantees the declared origin can be a way to to protect their jobs against unfair practicesAt the same time, the consumer gains an additional layer of security by knowing that what they are buying corresponds to what the label indicates.
The research group does not rule out applying this methodology to other projects. Foods and beverages where botanical origin is key, as they have already explored in high value-added products such as olive oil, spices or rumIn all these cases, traceability and authenticity are sensitive aspects where science can provide very specific solutions.
The research has been funded by the Department of University, Research and Innovation of the Andalusian Regional Government and with European funds FEDERThis demonstrates the institutional interest in promoting technologies that improve quality control and the competitiveness of food production in the European Union.
In a market where honey is bought so much for gastronomic pleasure as well as trustHaving techniques capable of reading a product's aromatic signature offers a solid way to guarantee its authenticity. Detailed aroma analysis, supported by metabolomics and advanced statistical models, is emerging as a useful tool to ensure that each jar maintains its unique character. floral identity that makes it unique and to provide producers and consumers with greater guarantees against fraud.