Using gelatin to produce honey jelly from citrus, clover and cotton liquid honey

Abstract

The liquid form of honey is relatively undesirable because honey could be crystallized and then spoilage under certain conditions. In this study, producing honey jelly from liquid citrus, clover and cotton honey using gelatin was investigated. Only gelatin and water were used to produce the honey jelly without other additives. Some chemical components were then determined in produced honey jelly of each type, in comparison with components of liquid honey. The results showed that solid honey jelly can be obtained using 10 g gelatin dissolved in 50 ml per 200 g honey. Using different amounts of gelatin and water did not show significant impact on measured components of produced jelly. Liquid honey had significantly higher percentage of sugars than jelly honey. The variations between the two types of honey were about 9.9, 9.7, and 9.75% for fructose, 13.5, 19.86 and 19.15% for glucose, 2.44, 1.85, and 1.7% for sucrose, for citrus, clover and cotton, in respect. The viscosity of honey jelly was significantly higher (from 82 to 90.66 poise) than liquid honey (from 31.63 to 63.86 poise) for each honey type. The moisture ranged insignificantly (P> 0.05) from 36.03 to 38.36% for honey jelly, and insignificantly (P> 0.05) from 17.35 to 20.00% for liquid honey of all honey types; pH values showed insignificant variations between liquid honey and honey jelly. Fructose and moisture of liquid honey showed insignificant weak correlation with components of honey jelly. Glucose, sucrose and pH of liquid honey are correlated significantly by 88%, 86%, and 84% with percentages of glucose and sucrose, and pH of honey jelly, respectively. Producing honey jelly using gelatin could be considered as a promising product from liquid honey to encourage bee honey marketing.