I

ANNO 2 Numero 3
Federica Gazziola, Renzo Barbattini, Franco Frilli [1]
Friuli Venezia Giulia’s honeys: considerations on the results of three-year investigation

[1] Dip. Biologia applicata alla Difesa delle Piante, Udine (Italy)

Corresponding author: federica.gazziola@uniud.it

In Europe the major demand is for alimentary products of quality. The botanical and geographical origin are the main standards that can advantage honey.

The production of high quality, geographically characterized honeys is definitely a good way of promoting the different varieties of Italian honey and is in accordance with the European directive to encourage quality food production. In this work we give the results of 274 melissopalynological analysis of Friuli Venezia Giulia honey samples. A nectar honey is, generally, considered to be of a certain species if the pollen of that species exceeds 45% of the total. If there is no predominant pollen, then the honey is classified as multifloral.

Compared with the monofloral honeys, the multiflorals are more abundant conirming the fact that the where the bees gather nectar is characterized by plant associations where no one prevails over the others. The pollen spectra are typical and constant, especially acacia, lime-tree and chestnut. Amorpha fruticosa nectar is often typical of the multifloral honeys of the Friuli Venezia Giulia plain; honeydew honey of Metcalfa pruinosa instead, in the last few years, has become remarkably scarcer.