CHAPTER 4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
4.1 The possibility to produce creamed honey product from various types of
4.1.1 The relation between physicochemical properties and crystallization
Five types honey from various brands (7 samples) in Thailand were observed by visual observation and analyzed for carbohydrates (fructose and glucose), and moisture content before place for observe the natural crystallization. From the visual
details following;
1) Sunflower honey (Helianthus annuus Linn.) contained little sucrose and therefore quickly crystallized. After crystallization, honey is like melted butter and hard to pour it in consumer packaging. Because sunflower honey crystallizes quickly, becoming soft and easy to spread, it is often consumed in its crystallized state.
2) Longan blossom honey or longan honey (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) is a brown aroma, taste, sweeter than others honey. The color is darker than another honey type and overall appearance does not change with temperature, even leaving it in the low temperature. Longan is usually harvested during February to April and mainly cultivated in the Chiang Mai and Lamphun provinces of Northern Thailand (Wanjai et al., 2012). The sum of fructose and glucose concentrations in longan honey was higher than 60% (w/w), this may be caused by the flower origin of nectar.
3) Lychee honey is a very light colored monofloral honey, amber color and taste is sweet. It contains 70% lychee pollen and 30% others kind of pollen. It has a very delicate flavor with a taste slightly reminiscent of roses. It will crystallize when it is cold or when put in the refrigerator, but its granulation is quite thin. The honey is harvested from September until November.
4) Wildflower honey or wild honey, also known as polyfloral honey, is derived from the nectar of numerous species of flowers or blossoms. The taste, aroma and flavor will vary from season to season, depending on which flowers are dominant at the time the nectar is collected. The color of wild honey in Thailand is dark color similar with longan honey and it can place in room temperature without any change of appearance and color for a long period time.
5) Bitter Bush honey or Sabsua honey has medicinal properties. The color is dark brown and present a strong aroma and taste. It a rare item of honey in Thailand, so it is a type of honey that is not very popular in Thailand.
As above mention, so the formation of honey crystals was differed following the honey compositions and type. Moreover, the time of honey crystallization until fully crystallization and crystallization indices will different also, the result was shown in Table 14.
Table 14 Moisture content and sugar composition (%) of Thai honey Type of
honey G F W G/W ratio F/G ratio Crystallization
index
CF 39.55 32.11 21.02 1.88 0.81 slow
LG-L 32.12 39.69 21.20 1.52 1.24 non
LG-SP 31.96 42.11 16.87 1.53 1.32 non
LG-LT 32.85 43.75 20.25 1.62 1.33 non
LC 42.49 39.62 19.14 2.22 0.93 rapid
SU 39.52 40.26 18.43 2.14 1.02 rapid
WD 38.25 44.19 18.25 2.09 1.16 non
Remark: - rapid crystallization: complete within 1 month, medium: 1-6 month, slow: > 6 month, non: > 1 year
- G = glucose content (g/100 g), F = fructose content (g/100g), W = water content (g/100g)
- CF = coffee honey, LG-L = longan honey from lumphun province, LG-SP = longan honey from Supha farm, LG-LT = longan honey from Luang Thong, LC = lychee honey, SU = sunflower honey, WD = wild honey
From Table 14, the result shown that longan honey presented different moisture content in each brand, the lowest moisture content found in Supha Bee farm, 16.87%. Although, all brands of longan honey are differed in moisture content, but G/W ratio was less than 1.70 which are represent in non-granulating honey by 1.52, 1.53 and 1.62 in Lumphun, Supha Bee farm and Luang Thong, respectively. Not only longan honey presented in hard to crystallize during storage but also in wild honey. There were two honey types in rapid crystallization including sunflower and lychee honey. Glucose and fructose in sunflower honey are approximately 39.52%
and 40.26%, respectively, so it shown in F/G ratio is equal 1.02 which is less than 1.11. In several reports, a value of F/G of < 1.11 has been associated with fast granulating honey while a value of 1.33 or more indicates non-granulation (Bhandari et al., 1999).
Figure 16 Appearance of liquid Thai honey;
(A) coffee honey, (B) longan honey from lumphun province, (C) longan honey from Supha farm, (D) longan honey of Luang Thong brand, (E) lychee honey,
(F) wild honey, (G) sunflower honey
The appearance of honeys before keeping in refrigerator shown in Figure 16 and all honeys presented in clear liquid honey. When the storage time increased to 14 days, each variety of honey crystallized differently. Lychee and sunflower honey produced some crystals during keeping in chilled temperature (10-14C), while longan and wild honey are not found any crystals in bottle for more than 1 year (Figure 17).
Figure 17 Honey appearance during keeping chilled temperature (10-14C), in 14 days; (A) coffee honey, (B) longan honey from lumphun province, (C) longan honey from Supha farm, (D) longan honey of Luang Thong brand, (E) lychee honey,
(F) wild honey, (G) sunflower honey
Regarding some of honey never crystallize, some crystallize very low, some very quickly, some have fine crystals, and some have bigger crystal grains. This has created a handling and processing uncertainties for the creamed honey processors. In
addition, crystallization of honey affects the quality of the final product and is an undesirable property in handling and processing. The honey properties should be study before design the suitable process to produce creamed honey product.
Therefore, we selected sunflower honey for further develop in creamed honey production, the reason came from the light-yellow color and the rapid crystallization will present the small crystal which is enhanced to produce a fine and smooth texture in creamed honey.
However, in case of non or slow granulating honey like longan and wild honey are specific study by control of crystallization process. Regarding the glucose per water ratio (G/W ratio) is the parameter to classify the crystallization behavior, so the method to reduce the moisture content or increase the glucose content in liquid honey. There were two method to study in part 4.1.2 including dehydration method to reducing the moisture content and glucose powder adding for increasing the glucose content.
4.1.2 Effect of moisture and glucose content to the crystallization