Hi all,
Okay, the storm Marty is passing thru with rains here and I
am home and thinking and doing badly. Went to reading in
old books and wouldn't you know it got into E.F. Phillips
1918 and flipping pages hit upon Formic Acid and have now
spent a great part of afternoon trying to find reference
now so I can stop thinking about it.
Delimma has happened and I know others here on lists have
books, so maybe one of you can help!
This is what I was reading concerning composition of honey:
" In the laboratory inversion is accomplished by the
addtion of an acid to the cane sugar solution and there is
a small amount of acid in honey. What this acid is has not
been determined, it being usually calculated in analyses
"as formic acid," which must not be misinterpreted as
indicating that the acid actually is formic acid. It
indicates merely that in the analysis the acidity is
calculated as if the acid were formic acid. It was formerly
believed the the poison of the bee sting is formic acid and
various fanciful theories have been advanced to explain the
origin of the formic acid supposed to be present in
honey. The worst of these explanations is that just before
sealing the honey, a worker bee puts a drop of poison form
the sting into the honey to preserve it. No such action has
been observed. Possible these speculation are the basis for
the calculation of the acidity of honey by the chemist "as
formic."
Now upon reading this I went and pulled out my Hive and the
Honey Bee by Dadant and read (1992 edition):
"Because of its great sweetness, the acidity of honey is
not particularly evident to the palate. The acids, however,
do contribute to the complex flavor.Years ago it was
thought that citric acid predominated, with small amounts
of formic, acetic, butyric, malic, and succinic acids
(Nelson and Mottern, 1931). More recently it has been found
(Stinson et al., 1960) that the predominant acid in honey
is gluconic acid, which is derived from dextrose (see
glucose oxidase).Other acids identified for the first time
in this study were lactic and pyroglutamic.
Reflecting the early belief that formic acid was the
principal acid, its acidity was for many years reported
analytically as "%formic acid."It is now more properly
expressed in food regulatoins as "milliequivalents per
kilogram honey" or meq/kg. This expression can be converted
to the equivalent of any acid by use of the appropriate
flactor, for example 1 meq/ke is equivalent to
0.0196% gluconic acid (19.6 mg. per 100 g, or 19.6 mg%)."
Now the above by Dadant doesn't help me because I reference
above the previous E.F. Phillips information, so I went and
pulled out A.I. Root , ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture (1983):
All Root says is: "Other acids which have been reported in
honey are formic, acetic, butyric, lactic, oxalic,
tartaric, maleic, pyroglutamic, pyruvic, a-ketoglutaric and
glycollic acids."
But acids which have been reported, doesn't say whether
reported right or wrong due to now having the E.F.Phillips
information.
So the question is:
What is the REAL REFERENCE for formic acid actually being
in honey and By Who for the research and work???????? When
done?????
Can anyone help???? What book is the information to be
found in for beekeepers??? What is the actual level of
formic acid in honey if indeed it is to be actually found
in honey and not supposed like early on?
Regards,
Dee A. Lusby
Tucson, Arizona
http:groups.yahoo.com/group/organicbeekeepers
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