Comparison of free amino acids profile in honeys from three Argentinian regions, and their botanical source

COMETTO P.M.; FAYÉ P.; DI PAOLA-NARANJO R.D.; RUBIO-MAS M.A.; ALDAO M.A.J.

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Año: 2003 vol. 51 p. 5079 - 5087

0021-8561

The physicla chemistry characteristics of honey are directly relates to floral origin and, as a result, to the production region. There are some available methods taht can determine the botanical or geographical origin of honey such as the free amino acids profile analysis. This paper reports data on the free amino acid composition, determined by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography UV detection on 56 honey samples from three different Argentina regions, with characteristic apiarian flora. To evaluate if the quantified amino acid could be used to verify the geographical or botanical origin of honey, statistical analyses were performed. The cluster analysis showed that samples were grouped in clusters related to samlpinf regions and more strictly to apiarian flora around apiaries. Each cluster appears associated, in accordance with the principal component analysis, to high or low concentrations of differente amino acids.