Palynological, physico-chemical and colour characterization of Moroccan honeys. II. Orange (Citrus sp.) honey

The palynological, physico-chemical and chromatic properties of twelve samples of Moroccan orange honeys were measured. A minimum of 10% of Citrus sp. pollen is considered enough to consider a honey as unifloral. These honeys are poor in pollen grains (PG) – eleven of the twelve samples show less than 20 000 PG per 10 g of honey. The presence of Eucalyptus, Plantago, Anthemis arvensis, Sinapis arvensis, Olea europaea, Acacia and Quercus pollen allows the differentiation of these honeys from those with a different geographical origin. From the physico-chemical point of view, the honeys present a low level of sucrose, ash and minerals content, and medium–high values for the water content, electrical conductivity, free acidity and maltose. Melezitose is not present in any samples. As for the chromatic parameters, the luminance (Y), along with the lightness (L*) and chroma showed very low values.