Abstract
To confirm the botanical origin of strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) honey, a liquid–liquid extraction followed by GC-MS method was developed for the quantitative determination of homogentisic acid (HGA), the main phenolic compound in this honey. Different parameters affecting extraction, such as the type and volume of extraction solvents, pH of the solution, and amount of salt, were optimized. The method showed good linearity (r2 = 0.9990) over the tested concentration range (50–500 mg/kg) and a low LOD (0.3 mg/kg). Precision expressed as RSD was <7%. The average accuracy was 95%. The optimized method was applied for determining the HGA content in strawberry tree honey samples from Croatia. The HGA content in analyzed samples (n = 7) ranged from 245.1 to 485.9 mg/kg. The proposed method provided reliable performance and can be easily implemented for the routine monitoring of HGA in strawberry tree honey in order to assure honey QC.
Fruit production of strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) in two Spanish forests
