Part of me is always searching for the new and the unknown. Even as a child, I had a penchant to look at things carefully and with curiosity; a simple toy would have other functions and purposes other than what it was made for. I guess this is what lead me to become an academic researcher, later in life.

In that capacity, in 2016 I was able to give a small contribution by characterizing Portuguese monofloral honeys, such as Carob, Arborutus, Squaw Mint and Thyme – all honeys that had not been previously investigated. The study followed that EU protocols to assess physical and chemical parameters for monofloral honeys used at the time. The parameters evaluated were color, pH, total acidity, humidity, electrical conductivity, ash content, HMF, diastase, reducing sugars, phenol and flavonoid contents.

Of the 25 samples analyzed 21 were confirmed to be monofloral honey, so I used a 21 samples to 13 different protocols comparison ratio. To round up the study, I also tested de microbicide effects of honey in microorganisms.In summation, I made Multidimensional scaling analyses (MDS) of the honeys that established the order of the honeys’ presentation, and proceeded to evaluate their physicochemical properties.

 

My thesis is available here