Color, total phenols and antioxidant activity of honey from northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Thanks to the climatic and geographical conditions, the area of the Northwestern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a long tradition of producing honey and bee products. However, there is little or no literature data on the Physico-chemical properties and biological activity of different types of honey and bee products from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Five different types of honey were analyzed: monofloral honey (acacia, chestnut, linden), meadow honey and forest honey. Physico-chemical parameters, sensory analysis, color of honey, antioxidant activity, and content of total phenols compounds were analyzed in five types off collected honey samples. The analyzes performed showed that chestnut honey contains the highest and acacia honey has the lowest content of total phenolic compounds. The forest honey showed the best antioxidant activity. The color of the honey was measured according to the CIELab system and the estimated L^*, a^*, b^* parameters show that all types of honey from this area can be characterized as dark types of honey (L^* < 50) with the presence of a yellow color. The obtained results show that the analyzed samples of five different types of honey are rich in polyphenolic components and represent a good source of antioxidants in the human diet.