Analysis of Major Quality Characteristics and Volatile Components of Blueberry Honey

Objective: As the most popular honey newly developed in the market, blueberry honey has attracted extensive attention in recent years. However, the quality difference of blueberry honey was large on the market because of the limitation of yield, in order to make people better understand blueberry honey, we studied the basic quality characteristics, antioxidant and volatile components of blueberry honey. Methods: The volatile components of blueberry honey were analyzed by GC-MS. The basic physical and chemical indexes of blueberry honey were determined according to the national standard method, the contents of total phenols, total flavonoids, proline, DPPH radical scavenging capacity and total antioxidant capacity in four blueberry honey were determined by spectrophotometry. Results: The test results of physical and chemical properties show that the blueberry honey LM17 collected from Changbai Mountain bee farm was a first-class product (high-quality honey). It did not contain BFF enzyme, SMR, SMB, BS, SMX, macrolides and mannose. It was a pure natural honey without adulteration. The total number of colonies, coliform group, mold count, osmotic yeast count were lower than those of the national standard of honey. The contents of cadmium, lead, coumaphos, fluvalinate and amitraz were far lower than the national standard index of honey or had not been detected. The total antioxidant activity of four blueberry honey samples from strong to weak were LM17>LM-MJ18ZH>LM-MJ18ZZ>LM18TH, there were significant differences in the contents of total phenols, total flavonoids and proline. A total of 60 volatile components were detected in the blueberry honey samples. Among them, 3-methyl-valeric acid, heptanoic acid, cis-linalool, and benzaldehyde belong to the aroma components, and the number of aroma components was more obvious than other scents. Honey (such as Elsholtzia rugulosa Hems L. honey and Linden honey) contained the same amount of aroma substances. It could also be inferred that the fragrance and flavor of blueberry honey should mainly come from these ingredients, among them, the volatile components shared by blueberry and blueberry honey were ethanol, benzaldehyde and octane. The 10 substances included 1-methyl-4-(1-methylvinyl)-benzene, 1,2,4-trimethyl-5-(1-methylethyl)-benzene, (S)-(+)-3-methyl-1-pentanol, cis-5-vinyltetrahydro-α,5-trimethyl-2-furanmethanol, 5,5-dimethyl-3-oxo 1-cyclohexene-1-carbaldehyde, 3-(2,2,6-trimethyl-7-oxabicyclo4.1.0hept-1-yl)-2-propenal, (E)-1-(2,6,6-trimethyl-1,3-cyclohexadien-1-yl)-2-buten-1-one, 1-2-3-methyl-3-(5-methyl-furan-2-yl)-butyl-oxiran-2-yl-ethanone, 4,5-dihydro-5,5-dimethyl-4-isopropylidene-1H-pyrazole, 8-propoxy-cedrane were the unique volatile component of blueberry honey. Conclusion: Through the analysis of the basic physical and chemical properties, antioxidant content, antioxidant capacity and volatile components of blueberry honey, there were 4 kinds of aroma components in all volatile components of blueberry honey. Based on the study of basic physical and chemical properties, antioxidant, volatile components and aroma components, LM17 was identified as high-quality honey.