Differentiation of Omani Acacia and white Acacia honey by botanical and physicochemical analysis

Introduction.Consumer in the Middle East market can be confused with two types of Acacia honeys i.e., 'true Acacia' honey from Acacia tortilis and 'White Acacia' honey from Robinia pseudoacacia. Materials and Methods.In this study, we evaluated honey samples to characterize and differentiated true Acacia from Robinia honey using botanical and physicochemical characteristics.Acetolysed pollen from honey was used to determine pollen concentration to establish the purity and floral origin.Results and Discussion.Acacia honey showed mean pH 4.83, moisture content 16.75%, EC 1.82 mS/cm, free acidity 95.30 meq/kg, diastase activity 12.00 DN and invertase activity 141.07 U/kg which are on par with the permitted specifications except EC and free acidity, being relatively higher.Robinia honey samples have pH 3.80, moisture content 17.41%, EC 0.33 mS/cm, free acidity 8.03 meq/kg, diastase activity 8.00 DN and invertase activity 17.53 U/kg.These values meet the standards.The EC of Acacia honey correlated with pH, moisture content, free acidity, diastase and invertase activities indicating richness in minerals and organic acids.All parameters were relatively higher in Acacia than in Robinia honey. Conclusion.We recommend that honey be labelled with specific names.We suggest the name "Acacia" for Acacia spp.honeys and "Robinia" for Robinia pseudacacia honey.