Abstract

VIT, Patricia; HERRERA, Patricia; RODRIGUEZ, Duriana  and  CARMONA, Juan. Characterization of fresh bee pollen collected in Cacute, in Venezuelan Andes. INHRR [online]. 2008, vol.39, n.2, pp.7-11. ISSN 0798-0477.

Bee pollen is the second product of the comb most consumed, after honey; however, there are no regulations for its quality control in Venezuela. In this work, fresh bee pollen collected in Cacute, Rangel County, Mérida state from Venezuela, was separated manually into fours colors. These pollen grains were observed with the microscope for its botanical identification by comparison with the pollen reference collection. Each pollen type was identified with a pollen reference collection: 1. Brassica napus (yellow). 2. Fraxinus americana (orange). 3. Zea mays (brown). 4. Da tura ar borea (creamy). Sensory evaluation allowed perception of differences in odour (resin, straw, honey), flavour (sour, bitter, astringent, sweet) and texture (crispy, sticky, powdery). The physicochemical composition varied as fo llows: 8,74 - 9,90 g water/100 g pollen, 2,15 - 33,9 g ash/100 g pollen, 2,00- 3,36 g fat/100 g pollen y 16,54 - 26,30 g protein/ 100 g pollen.

Keywords : Andes; bee pollen; Venezuela.