Correlation between Moisture and Water Activity of Honeys Harvested in Different Years |
| |
| Authors: | MM Cavia MA Fernáez-Muiño JF Huidobro MT Sancho |
| |
| Affiliation: | Authors Cavia, Fernández-Muiño, and Sancho are with Univ. de Burgos, Área de Nutrición y Bromatología, Dept. de Biotecnología y Ciencia de los Alimentos, Facultad de Ciencias, Plaza de Misael Bañuelos García s/n. 09001 Burgos (Castilla y León), Spain. Author Huidobro is Univ. de Santiago de Compostela, Área de Nutrición y Bromatología, Dept. de Química Analítica, Nutrición y Bromatología, Facultad de Farmacia, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Galicia), Spain. Direct inquiries to author Sancho (E-mail: |
| |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACT: For the 1st time, a relationship has been investigated between moisture percentage (M) and water activity (aW) in honeys from 2 different harvesting years and 2 different climatic areas. Moisture was determined by measuring refractive index at 20°C, according to official methods. At the same time, aW of the same samples was assessed at exactly 20°C. Influence on the relationship of the crop's year, aging, and induced fine granulation was evaluated. The results show that, independent of all factors studied, an excellent and statistically significant linear correlation between both parameters aW = 0.3114 + (0.0170 × M)] was found in all samples with a regression coefficient of 0.8809. The measurement of aW of honey is interesting but time-consuming. This study concludes that this parameter can be easily calculated from the moisture percentage, thus avoiding the use of expensive and slow equipment for aW measurement. |
| |
| Keywords: | honey moisture water activity |
|
|
