Co-crystallized honey with sucrose: evaluation of process and product characterization

Abstract

Honey is a commercial product that presents difficulties in food industries related to crystallization inside the packages. Dry ingredients are easy to handle. Honey co-crystallized with sucrose is a dry productthat can be used in the food industry as long as fulfillsafety and sensory requirements. The objective of this work was to produce and characterize honey co-crystallized with sucrose using 9 different samples of honey. The process of co-crystallization of honey (15%) with sucrose resulted productswith water activity from 0.38 to 0.51, moisture values ranging from 1.25% to 2.04% (wet basis), good fluidity (repose angles from 23.40 to 32.28°) and apparent density from 0.46 to 0.55 g/cm3. The products presented morphological structure characteristic of co-crystallization products. Final products showed good overall sensory acceptance, which opens the possibility of using co-crystallized honey in food industries.