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The phenolic composition, aroma compounds, physicochemical and antimicrobial properties of Nigella sativa L. (black cumin) honey

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Abstract

Honey is an important bee product with its nutritional and medicinal properties. Characterization of different monofloral honey has importance for focusing on honey’s biocomponents and the potential use of its medicinal applications. Although Black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) is a valuable monofloral honey, there are less study about its both chemical and biochemical study in literature. In this study, some characteristic properties of black cumin honey (Nigella sativa L.) were evaluated. The mean total polyphenol content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and total antioxidant capacity based on the ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity were 55.23 ± 1.27 mg GAE/100 g, 1.18 ± 0.11 mg QUE/100 g, 219.50 µmol FeSO4.7H2O/g, 219.50 ± 8.67 µMFeSO4/g, and 38.40 ± 2.26 mg/mL, respectively. Phenolic composition was measured by means of high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode-array detection (HPLC–PDA) using 25 standards. Ellagic acid and pinocembrin were identified as the major components. Antimicrobial activities were tested on Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enteric subsp. enterica, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes and Candida albicans. The results showed that Nigella sativa honeys were especially effective against L. monocytogenes, S. aureus, and E. faecalis. The results show that N. sativa honey possesses high apitherapeutic potential, although further research is now needed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are most grateful to Mesut BAŞ of the Burdur Beekeeping Union of Turkey for providing the honey samples. This study is a part of my Master’s thesis on Gamze KAZAZ.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey

    Sevgi Kolayli, Gamze Kazaz & Yakup Kara

  2. Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

    Asli Özkök

  3. Bilecik Seyh Edebali University, Vocational School of Health Services, Bilecik, Turkey

    Merve Keskin

  4. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Central Research Laboratory Application and Research Center, Rize, Turkey

    Esra Demir Kanbur

  5. Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey

    Ömer Ertürk

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  1. Sevgi Kolayli
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  2. Gamze Kazaz
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  4. Merve Keskin
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  5. Yakup Kara
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  6. Esra Demir Kanbur
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Contributions

SK: Planning of the study, writing-editing article; GK: Formal analyses; AÖ: Pollen analysis of the honeys; MK: Formal analyses and writing-editing article; YK; HPLC studies; EDK: Aroma components analysis with GC–MS: ÖE: Antimicrobial studies.

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Correspondence to Sevgi Kolayli.

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Kolayli, S., Kazaz, G., Özkök, A. et al. The phenolic composition, aroma compounds, physicochemical and antimicrobial properties of Nigella sativa L. (black cumin) honey. Eur Food Res Technol 249, 653–664 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-022-04160-2

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