The most representative vegetation type of the country after the Amazonian forest is the "cerrado" (savannah) area, which currently occupies two million square kilometer of the Brazilian territory. This paper deals with the physicochemical characteristics of honey samples produced by Apis mellifera in a fragment of savannah area located in Itirapina, São Paulo State (22°14'S and 47°49'W), Brazil. The samples were collected monthly, in five beehives, from February to October 2005 and the following characters were determined: reducing sugars, total reducing sugars, apparent sucrose, moisture content, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), color, electrical conductivity, pH, acidity, formol index, ashes, protein and viscosity, beyond the pollinic analysis. The results indicate that the limits established by the current Brazilian honey legislation regarding physicochemical parameters are fulfilled by the majority of the honey samples. Regarding pollinic analysis it was verified the Eucalyptus sp. as dominant pollen from February to July, and of Citrus sp. in October, due to the attractiveness of these two crops to the foraging bees.
Apidae; Apis mellifera; savannah area; Brazilian legislation; honey quality
