Effect of long-term and heating storage on honey visible spectrum: an alternative parameter for quality monitoring of bracatinga honeydew honey

Abstract

Bracatinga (Mimosa scabrella Bentham) honeydew honey (BHH) is a peculiar Brazilian honey. It is produced only every 2years, which raises concerns about its quality since it can be submitted to different storage conditions until a new harvest is carried out. Therefore, this study investigated the changes in the visible spectrophotometric profile (VSP) of BHH during its storage at room temperature over 24months and 40°C for 4months. Our findings indicated a similar VSP between the BHH samples, but that varied according to the storage condition. These changes were associated with the formation of brown compounds, such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, which has a maximum limit established for honeys. Thereby, absorbance above 0.500 absorption units between 380 and 410nm was proposed as indicative of BHH exposure to prolonged heating with significant loss of its quality. Still, a regression model for absorbance at 380nm was proposed aiming to predict the BHH storage time at room temperature, since storage time longer than 20months at average temperatures of 23.0 ± 2.3°C do not seem to be suitable for BHH. Thus, the VSP showed potential for monitoring BHH quality.