INVESTIGATION of the EFFECT of CREAMED HONEY PRODUCTION PROCESS on the SUGAR PROFILE of HONEY

Abstract

The predominant compounds found in honey are carbohydrates, mainly composed of fructose and glucose. Honey is a supersaturated solution with more than 70% sugar and less than 20% water content. Crystallization of supersaturated solutions is expected from a physicochemical point of view. However, since the crystallization phenomenon is not fully understood by the consumers, crystallized honey is generally not liked. Beekeepers and/or marketers of bee products apply a high degree of heat treatment to crystallized honey to bring it into liquid form and market it to meet consumer preferences. Honey has been used for both healing and nutritional purposes throughout history. Unfortunately, some processes applied to honey consciously or unconsciously can have the opposite effect, although they lose the healing value of honey. The new product, which is formed as a result of controlled crystallization to improve the sensory and physical properties of honey, is called cream honey. Creamed honey is an alternative product to crystallization and its effects. In this study, creamed honey was produced from filtered honey and the effect of creamed honey production process on the sugar profile of honey was investigated by High Performance Liquid Chromatography- Refractive Index Detection (HPLC-RID) method. In the analyzes made, it was concluded that the creamed honey production process did not have a significant effect on the sugar profile of honey (p>0.05).