Melipona favosa pot-honey from Venezuela

Abstract:

The stingless bee Melipona favosa lives in the plains and coastal areas of Venezuela. It is a gentle bee known locally as erica and maba. This bee commonly nests in trees, walls, fence posts, and is kept in hives by traditional stingless beekeepers. Its honey can ferment inside sealed storage pots of the nest. Therefore, the sensory attribute fermented is interpreted as an ability of Meliponini to process their honey with microorganisms, not as a defect like unripe honey extracted from combs. Fermentation may continue after harvest. The honey composition for a set of five honeys from different hives, some biological activities and sensory attributes are discussed from the database of 40 M. favosa honey samples from Venezuela. This type of pot-honey has a distinctive floral smell, sour-sweet taste and light amber color. Odor and aroma of M. favosa honey are more floral-fruity and fermented than that of A. mellifera, with an additional sensory hallmark that is the odor of the hive or nest. Compared to honey standards of A. mellifera, modified reference values may be adopted for M. favosa honey considering: (1) Increased maximum values for water content, sucrose, and free acidity, (2) Decreased minimum value for reducing sugars, (3) Nitrogen content (10.0-100.0 mgN/100 g), and (4) No variation in ash and HMF contents.

Año de publicación:

2013

Keywords:

Fuente:

scopus