2.3.1. Palynological Analysis

The palynological analysis was conducted as follows: 2 g of bee pollen was prepared by dissolving and washing it in H2SO4 (5‰), and placed on the slide [33]. The slide was examined using a Primostar 3 KMAT Carl Zeiss microscope at 400× magnification. The pollen frequencies were determined based on the Louveaux et al. (1978) methodology, and were divided into four categories as: predominant pollen (>45% of the total pollen detected); secondary pollen (16–45%); minor important pollen (3–15%); minor pollen (<3%) [33].

2.3.2. Determination of Routine Physicochemical Parameters: Moisture Content, Water Activity, pH and Free Acidity

• Moisture content

A total of 1 g of sample was weighed and heated at 103 ◦C for 2 h for start, weighted after cooling and heated again until constant weight was obtained [18].

• Water activity

Water activity was measured using a water activity meter AquaLab Lite (Decagon, USA).

• pH and free acidity

2 g of bee pollen was mixed with 5 mL of water, after homogenization the solution was filtered and titrated with NaOH 0.05 M [17]. The pH was determined on the same solution using a Metler Toledo pH meter Seven compact S210. All the measurements were carried out in triplicate.
