CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF KARS HONEY

This study was undertaken to determine some chemical parameters (moisture, fructose/glucose ratio, hydroxymethylfurfural value, volatile compounds) of honey samples obtained from Kars. 100 honey samples from eight districts of Kars were evaluated. The chemical characterizations were as follows: average moisture (15,5 +/- 1,11%), HMF (0,77 ppm 0.9 ppm), F/G ratio (1,02 +/- 0,16). As a result of the gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC MS) analyses, some volatile compounds in honey samples such as alcohols (1,15 +/- 1,84%), aldehydes (4,66 +/- 6,33%), aliphatic acids and their esters (1,86 +/- 4,5%), hydrocarbons (2,32 +/- 3,1%), flavonoids (4,34 +/- 1,63%), carboxylic acids and their esters (0,24 +/- 0,96%), ketones (6,05 +/- 6,35%), sugars (15,79 +/- 10,74%),vitamins (0,59 +/- 2,66%) were determined and quantitative variations of chemical components in different samples were reported.