Bee World

ISSN: 0005-772X (Print) 2376-7618 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tbee20

Green “Honey” From Kiwi Plants

Chrysoula Tananaki, Dimitris Kanelis, Basilis Liolios, Maria Dimou, Georgios

Goras & Dr. Andreas Thrasyvoulou

To cite this article: Chrysoula Tananaki, Dimitris Kanelis, Basilis Liolios, Maria Dimou, Georgios
Goras & Dr. Andreas Thrasyvoulou (2014) Green “Honey” From Kiwi Plants, Bee World, 91:3,
68-69, DOI: 10.1080/0005772X.2014.11417607

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0005772X.2014.11417607

Published online: 01 Apr 2015.

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Download by: [Aristotle University of Thessaloniki] Date: 16 April 2016, At: 11:09
 68 ǀ Bee Product Science
Green “Honey” From Kiwi
Plants
Chrysoula Tananaki, Dimitris Kanelis, Basilis Liolios, Maria Dimou,
Georgios Goras, Andreas Thrasyvoulou
Green honey has been reported from the Philippines, blue and green honey has been seen
in France, now there is green honey from Greece. But is the product “honey” - here is the
explanation.
Downloaded by [Aristotle University of Thessaloniki] at 11:09 16 April 2016
Photo. 1. The first green Kiwi honey.
In 2007, a green honey was reported in
Manila, in the Philippines. It was produced
by bees which gather chlorophyll from
green algae and combine it with nectar.
Five years later, beekeepers from Eastern
France, produced blue and green honey
which it is believed, was coloured from
materials that bees collected from a
nearby biogas plant that was processing
the waste from a factory making M&M
candies! Now, Greek beekeepers
extracted a peculiar green honey. This
honey is produced from the kiwi plant
(Actinidia chinensis) and may be the first
“Kiwi-honey” (Photo. 1). However, the
kiwi plant does not give honey because
it gives only pollen and no nectar. Last
year the severe hailstorms that hit
northern Greece destroyed the kiwi fruits
and the growers left the lacerated fruits
un-collected on the plants. Bees from a
neighbouring apiary visited the destroyed
kiwi fruits and collected juices from the
fruit and transferred it to their hives and
processed it like the nectar. Finally, the
bees produced a green honey-like product
with similar colour to kiwi fruit. Each one
of the three colonies gave 3-Kg of this
type of honey.
Photo. 2. Pollen from ivy plants and sticky
fleabane in green honey sediment.
“Kiwi-honey” when analyzed was found
to have similar sugars to regular honey.
Its electrical conductivity was of a blossom
honey and the moisture content within
ordinary limits. On the other hand, it has
a significantly high HMF and acidity and
no diastase activity. Comparatively kiwi
juice has very low sugar content, low
acidity and no HMF or diastase activity
(Table 1).
Pollen analysis of this product indicates
much pollen from ivy plants (Hetera
helix) 70%, Liliaceae 14%, Rubus Type
7%, sticky fleabane (Inula viscose) 3%
(Photo. 2). All these plants were fully
flowering when the bees collected juices
from the kiwi fruits. The absolute number
of pollen grains was 63.000 (Group II).
Obviously these pollen grains were found
after secondary or tertiary contamination
of the product by the bee bread of the
hive. This unexpected result indicates
that pollen analysis should not be used
alone to designate the plant origin of the
product and that it may sometimes lead
to erroneous results.
Photo. 3. A week after its collection it turns
to a tasteful cream-honey with similar colour
to kiwifruit.
One week after collection, “Kiwi-honey”,
was granulated with very fine crystals
giving the sensation of cream honey
(Photo. 3). The organoleptical
characteristics of this honey-like product
were pleasing and all the tasters liked it
and wanted more of the tasty green
honey.
On the other hand the high HMF content
of green honey could be dangerous for
the bees. During the selection of juices,
no signs of poisoning were observed and
no dead bees found in front of the hive
but all three colonies were lost during
winter time although they were strong
and had enough honey to overwinter.
Whether the high HMF content of green
honey was the cause of the loss is not
clear.
According to the definition, honey is the
sweet substance produced by bees from
the nectar of plants, or from secretions
of living parts of plants or excretions of
plant-sucking insects on the living parts
of plants. The juice from the injured
kiwi fruit does not fall into that honey
definition and so it cannot be regarded
 Bee Product Science ǀ 69

Table. 1. Physiochemical and microscopic characteristics of “Kiwi-honey” and kiwi fruit juice. as honey. But it is a product from bees,
with pleasing characteristics, very
Parameters “Kiwi-honey” Kiwi fruit juice delicious with sugar and other
Fructose % 39.4 8.2 characteristics similar to honey. The high
Glucose % 35.8 7.8 content of HMF and the absence of
Fructose + Glucose % 75.2 16.0 diastase activity are not an impregnable
disadvantage since they are qualitative
Sucrose % 0.78 1.4
indications and have nothing to do with
Diastase DN 0.0 0.0 the nutritional value of the product.
HMF mg/kg 377.0 0.0
Electrical conductivity mS/cm 0.660 - Comparatively kiwi juice has very low
Acidity meq/kg 106.0 36.0 sugar content, low acidity and no HMF
Water content % 19.4 - or diastase activity (Table 1). The analysis
of kiwi fruit juice was carried out on ripe
(L*, a*,b*) (L*, a*,b*)
Colour fruit and not on the injured unripe fruit
30.15, -7.31, 8.86 53.69, -7.75, 21.68
that bees had collected and this may
Antioxidant activity μmol AO/g 196.0
explain some differences of Table 1.
Downloaded by [Aristotle University of Thessaloniki] at 11:09 16 April 2016

Pollen Analysis
Hedera helix 70% 0.0
Inula viscosa 3% 0.0 Chrysoula Tananaki, Dimitris Kanelis.
Basilis Liolios, Maria Dimou, Georgios
Rubus Type 7% 0.0
Goras,
Liliaceae 14% 0.0
Professor Dr. Andreas Thrasyvoulou,
Sonchus Type 1% 0.0 Laboratory of Apiculture-Sericulture,
Unidentified 5% 0.0 Aristoteleian Univesity,
Nectarless/anemophilous: rare Thessaloniki,
(4%)
(Chenopodiaceae, Chrozophora) Greece
HDE/P 0.58 few 0.0
Absolute number of pollen grains 63,000 (group II) 0.0 Email: thrasia@agro.auth.gr

From The Archives

Journalistic licence is not new, so whatever
happened to this “discovery”? Searching
through the various collections that Dr
Crane started and I continued can be a
very time consuming occupation. One
thing inevitably leads to another. Recently,
I came across this newspaper cutting
from the London Evening Standard for
Monday, September 30, 1912. The
photograph is a little faded and the text
even more so : however, here it is,
transcribed in full.
Stingless Bees
Loughton Man’s Interesting
Discovery
For years beekeepers have been trying
to obtain a strain of bees that would be
harmless when handled. This has at
least been accomplished by Mr Burrows,
of Loughton, who, after two years
experimenting, has obtained a strain of
insect that a child can handle with perfect
safety.
Original Caption: Mr Burrows, of Loughton,
showing his new stingless bees to his children.
Note the insects on the clothing of the children.
The bees are a mixture of Cyprian drone
and Italian. By mating the drone with an
Italian queen Mr Burrows obtained what
he desired. The combination is not only
harmless, but they are splendid workers.
Mr Burrows is of the opinion that this
new strain will in future be kept by all
beekeepers. They are very healthy, and
less likely to fall prey to the diseases
that are prevalent amongst the English
variety.
One remarkable fact was pointed out,
that although the sting is quite useless
as a weapon of offence, yet the insect
cannot do without it, for if it loses its
sting it soon dies. As evidence of their
working capacity, it was stated that this
year alone 212lb (96kg) of honey was
taken from one hive.
Mr Burrows has had enquiries from all
over England for particulars of his new
combination.
Richard Jones