An effective and economic method to produce re-ripe honey with honeybee colonies

Abstract Beekeepers who manage migratory beekeeping in China preferred to produce non-ripe honey rather than natural ripe honey in short flowering seasons, to obtain higher honey yield and profits. To explore an alternative method for production of ripe honey, we fed Apis cerana cerana colonies with non-ripe honey produced from Apis mellifera ligustica colonies to produce re-ripe honey. The production rate of re-ripe honey was 29.06%, which led to a high market profit considering price factors. The contents of glucose and fructose in re-ripe honey didn’t change significantly, and small amounts of sucrose and maltose were detected. The amylase activity (39.06 mL/(g*h) in re-ripe honey significantly increased, compared with that (34.86 mL/(g*h)) in non-ripe honey. The types and relative content of volatile organic components, namely, alcohols and esters, in re-ripe honey were lower than those in non-ripe honey, indicating the milder and non-irritating aroma of the former. Overall, the method raised by us is a practical approach to produce honey with high quality and economic values and could be easily accepted by the market.摘要 在中国从事转地放蜂的养蜂户，在流蜜期较短的情况下，往往选择生产未成熟蜂蜜而非天然成熟蜂蜜，以获得更高的蜂蜜产量与收益。为探索成熟蜂蜜生产的替代方案，本研究使用意大利蜜蜂（Apis mellifera ligustica）所产的未成熟蜂蜜饲喂中华蜜蜂（Apis cerana cerana）蜂群，以制备二次成熟蜂蜜。二次成熟蜂蜜的成品率为29.06%，结合市场价格因素考量，该工艺可带来可观的市场收益。二次成熟蜂蜜中的葡萄糖与果糖含量无显著变化，且可检测到少量蔗糖与麦芽糖。与未成熟蜂蜜的淀粉酶活性（34.86 mL/(g·h)）相比，二次成熟蜂蜜的淀粉酶活性（39.06 mL/(g·h)）显著提升。二次成熟蜂蜜中挥发性有机成分（醇类与酯类）的种类及相对含量均低于未成熟蜂蜜，表明前者的香气更为柔和且无刺激性。综上，本研究所提出的方法是一种兼具高品质与经济价值的蜂蜜生产实用方案，且易于被市场所接受。