Multidisciplinary analysis of Italian Alpine wildflower honey reveals criticalities, diversity and value

LEONI, VALERIA; GIUPPONI, LUCA; PAVLOVIC, RADMILA; GIANONCELLI, CARLA; CECATI, FRANCISCO; RANZATO, ELIA; MARTINOTTI, SIMONA; PEDRALI, DAVIDE; GIORGI, ANNAMARIA; PANSERI, SARA

Scientific Reports

Springer Nature

Año: 2021 vol. 11

Wildfower honeys produced in mountain grasslands are an expression of the biodiversity of thesefragile habitats. Despite its importance, the botanical origin of honey is often defned withoutperforming formal analysis. The aim of the study was to characterize six wildfower mountainhoneys produced in the Italian Alps with diferent analytic techniques (SPME?GC?MS, HPLCOrbitrap, cicatrizing and antioxidant activity) alongside melissopalynological analysis and botanicaldefnition of the production area. Even though the apiaries were in mountain grasslands rich in Alpineherbaceous species, the honey could be defned as rhododendron/raspberry uniforal or raspberry andrhododendron biforal while the honey produced at the lowest altitude difered due to the presenceof linden, heather and chestnut. The non-compliance of the honey could be due to habitat (meadowsand pastures) fragmentation, but also to specifc compounds involved in the plant?insect relationship,such as kynurenic acid, present in a high quantity in the sample rich in chestnut pollen. 255 volatilecompounds were detected as well as some well-known markers of specifc botanic essences, inparticular chestnut, linden and heather, also responsible for most of the diferences in aroma profling.A high correlation between nicotinaldehyde content and percentage of raspberry pollen (r= 0.853,p < 0.05) was found. Phenolic acid and hydroxy-fatty acid were predominant in the chestnut pollendominant honey, which presented the highest antioxidant activity and the lowest cicatrizing activity,while the favonoid fraction was accentuated in one sample (rhododendron pollen prevalent), thatwas also the one with the highest efect on wound closure, although all samples had similar cicatrizingefects apart from the chestnut pollen dominant honey (lowest cicatrizing activity). Our studyhighlighted the difculty of producing mountain wildfower honey and the importance of a thoroughcharacterization of this product, also to encourage its production and valorisation.