Abstract
In this study, we investigated and compared some chemical properties of Korean natural honeys and sugar-fed honeys for their quality characteristics. The natural honey samples were monofloral from chestnut and acacia flowers, and the sugar-fed honey samples were collected from honeybees feeding on sugar cane and sugar beet. The chemical properties of the honey samples, such as moisture, total protein, total lipids, ash, carbohydrate, minerals, vitamins, and free amino acids were determined. The moisture content was $18.5{\pm}0.9%$ in natural acacia honey, $17.2{\pm}0.9%$ in natural chestnut honey, $19.6{\pm}0.9%$ in sugar cane-fed honey, and $24.8{\pm}%$ in sugar beet-fed honey. The total protein and ash contents were the highest in natural chestnut honey. Maltose and sucrose were not detected in natural honeys but were detected at 2~7% in sugar-fed honeys. The vitamin, mineral, and free amino acids contents of natural honeys were higher than sugar-fed honeys. The natural chestnut honey is the highest in honeys. These results confirmed that the quality of natural honey was better than that of sugar-fed honey. Also, the vitamin, mineral, and free amino acids contents are potential characteristics for distinguishing between natural and sugar-fed honeys.
