Evolution of Physicochemical Parameters during the Thermal-Based Production of Água-mel, a Traditional Portuguese Honey-Related Food Product.

Teresa Cavaco,Raúl González-Domínguez,Ana Cristina Figueira,Ángeles Fernández-Recamales,Ana Sayago

doi:10.3390/molecules27010057

Teresa Cavaco, Raúl González-Domínguez + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27010057

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Abstract

The purpose of this work was to investigate the physicochemical changes occurring during the thermal-based production of água-mel, a traditional Portuguese honey-related food product. The refractive index, color parameters (hue angle, H°; chroma, C*), and the content of total reducing sugars, glucose, fructose, total brown pigments, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural were monitored along the entire production process, and their evolution was kinetically modelled. Thermal processing caused a gradual decrease in sugars, which was accompanied by the formation of brown pigments and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, increased concentration of soluble solids as evaluated through refractive index measurements, as well as the appearance of darker colors. In particular, a zero-order kinetic model could explain the changes in H° and reducing sugars, while the evolution of refractive index, brown pigments, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, C*, fructose, and glucose were best fitted using a first-order kinetics model.

Highlights

Água-mel is a honey-based foodstuff that has been produced since ancient times in south Portugal [1,2,3,4], a similar product, abbamele, is produced in Sardinia (Italy) [5,6]
The content of brown pigments (BP) increased as the heating time increased, which might be due to the occurrence of Maillard reactions as a result of the concentration of reacting species because of the decreased water content in água-mel [9,18]
This is in line with the results reported by Laroque et al, who investigated the evolution of Maillard reaction products from a shrimp hydrolysate with five different reducing sugars [21]

Summary

Introduction

Água-mel is a honey-based foodstuff that has been produced since ancient times in south Portugal [1,2,3,4], a similar product, abbamele, is produced in Sardinia (Italy) [5,6]. Both Mediterranean honey-like groceries result from the valorization of byproducts from the honey industry. This, together with the complex composition of honey, makes the implementation of reliable quality-control procedures necessary to assess the physicochemical properties of the final product and the changes occurring during food processing

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