Processing of Honey: A Review

Figures & data

Figure 1 Conventional method of processing honey.

Table 1 The effect of different treatment on the sensory characteristics of honey after six months of storage.[18]

Treatment	Color	Consistency	Taste	Aroma	Overall qualities
Room temperature (7–30°C)
Unheated	18.8	16.7	17.3	17.8	17.8
Unheated (KMS)	17.3	16.5	17.6	17.1	18.2
Heated	15.8	17.2	16.1	16.7	15.6
Temperature 5°C
Unheated	19.3	15.4	19.2	18.9	19.6
Unheated (KMS)	18.6	15.0	18.6	17.5	18.4
Heated	16.0	16.2	16.5	17.6	15.5
Temperature 40°C
Unheated	14.4	19.1	13.8	14.0	1.37
Unheated (KMS)	14.0	18.7	14.2	13.5	1.39
Heated	14.2	19.0	13.9	14.2	1.38

Table 2 The physicochemical properties of unheated and microwave heated starfruit honey before and after storage for 16 weeks.[22]

			Storage temperature
Property	Unheated	Heated	4°C	Room temperature
Moisture (%)	20.80	20.80	21.00 (22.00)	20.80 (21.20)
Diastase number	4.00	2.51	2.32 (3.28)	1.69 (2.58)
Fructose (%)	32.10	32.12	32.10 (32.07)	30.08 (30.12)
Glucose (%)	30.14	30.10	30.02 (24.75)	26.85 (24.90)
Maltose (%)	2.31	2.30	2.42 (5.33)	5.47 (7.47)
Sucrose (%)	5.96	6.01	5.92 (5.48)	1.67 (0.00)
Yeast (cfu/g)	1.02 × 10^5	5.90 × 10^2	4.00 × 10^2	3.45 × 10^2
Values indicated in the parentheses are for unheated honey.

Figure 2 (a) Reduction in yeast count and (b) Increase in HMF with time at different power levels (PL) of microwave heating.[24]

Figure 3 (a) Reduction in diastase activity and (b) Reduction in moisture content with time at different power levels (PL) of microwave heating.[24]

Table 3 Continuous heating of honey with infrared radiation.[24]

S. No.	Time (min)	Temperature (°C)	Moisture (%)	Yeast count (cfu/mL)	HMF (mg/kg)	Enzyme activity (DN)
Control			21.8	7000	2.0	16.6
1	2	47	20.2	500	3.2	13.8
2	3	61	19.8	300	3.6	12.4
3	4	74	19.8	200	4.6	11.6
4	5	85	19.2	150	6.5	10.5
5	8	110	18.2	Nil	7.9	Traces

Table 4 Rejection and permeate flux of different MF/UF membranes.[40]

Membrane pore size/MWCO	Sample	Enzyme activity (DN)	Yeast (cfu/mL)	Rejection of enzymes (%)	Av. flux (kg/m^2·h)
MF membranes
25 nm	Feed	5.3
	Permeate	1.9	ND	66	ND
100 nm	Feed	5.5
	Permeate	2.6	ND	54	1.49
450 nm	Feed	4.8
	Permeate	3.6	ND	26	1.77
UF membranes
20 000	Feed	4.9	375
	Permeate	0.0	0	100	ND
25 000	Feed	4.9	500
	Permeate	0.0	0	100	0.90
50 000	Feed	5.0	600
	Permeate	0.0	0	100	1.00
100 000	Feed	5.5	325
	Permeate	0.0	0	100	1.15
ND, Not Determined.

Figure 4 Schematic diagram of membrane processing of honey.[40]

Table 5 Quality variations during concentration of membrane processed honey.[40]

	Operating conditions
Batch size (g)	Temperature (°C)	Absolute pressure (mbar)	Loss in diastase activity (%)	Increase in HMF content (%)
250	50	50	20.8	5.2
400	57	98	27.0	9.0

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