Orange blossom honey

Persano Oddo and Piro treat all Citrus species as one honey class because their physicochemical characteristics are similar.

Citrus species attract bees strongly and give large amounts of unifloral honey, mainly in Spain and Italy.

Outside Europe the main producers of citrus honey are Israel, the USA (California), Brazil and Mexico.

Citrus pollen is under-represented in the honey, to a greater or lesser extent depending on species and cultivar.

In the data from Greek and Italian laboratories, Citrus pollen averaged 18.6% of the pollen (SD 12.0, n = 192). The authors' range of 2.3 to 42.2% is meant to cover 95% of samples, not to set absolute limits.

Colour averaged 15.0 mm Pfund (SD 6.6, n = 172), with a reported range of 5.0 to 28.1 mm Pfund that the authors present as covering 95% of samples.

Methyl anthranilate is a chemical marker for unifloral citrus honey.

German laboratories consider at least 2 mg/kg of methyl anthranilate typical of authentic unifloral citrus honey.

In sensory analysis the odour is described as floral, within the floral and fresh fruit family.

The aroma in the mouth is described as fresh (anise) and floral, within the floral and fresh fruit family.

The honey shows low values of colour, electrical conductivity and enzymes, and a slightly high sucrose content.

Electrical conductivity averaged 0.19 mS/cm (SD 0.06, n = 250), with a reported range of 0.11 to 0.31 mS/cm that the authors present as covering 95% of samples.