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Analyze the Color of Honey with Photometer

 Description

Bees use nectar to make honey; they collect nectar from a variety of plants, which means a variety of types of honey. Honey is a naturally produced functional food, foods that have been proven to have a positive effect on health, which has advantageous properties. These properties include antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, wound and sunburn healing, antioxidant, antidiabetic and antimicrobial activities.
Honey is characterized by many different traits, color being the most important physical trait. From the color of honey one can determine the geographical origin as well as what variety of plants the honey originates from. Honey color is used to determine floral origin and is important aspect in commercial activities. Many factors have been found to affect the color of honey including minerals, phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity. Darker honey has been found to have higher antioxidant capacity, and is often used in natural health regiments. Studies have proven how important antioxidants are in fighting disease, so an accurate way to quantify the antioxidants in honey is important. Including honey with high levels of antioxidants in a diet has shown to reduced the risk of heart disease and cancer. The antioxidants in honey help to break down free radicals, unstable compounds that attack healthy cells affecting the way they function, in the body.


Application -  Honey Color - Portable Photometer

A research scientist was comparing the physio chemical and antioxidant properties with honey and needed an accurate way to report honey color. For his research four different types of honey were compared. The types of honey that were of interest are gelam, longan, rubber tree and sourwood honeys. The name of these honey varieties are derived from the plant which the nectar was collected from. Often these varieties of honey are introduced to food whether directly or indirectly, as well as used as traditional medicine in the local area. Manuka honey from New Zealand was used as the standard in the study because of known benefits and medicinal properties. Manuka honey was also chosen as the standard because it has been widely studied for its antioxidant capacity. Honey with high antioxidant activity would promote bee keeping and increase the value of honey in the local market. He looked at many different characteristics of the honey pH, EC/TDS and honey color. He was already using Hanna products for pH and EC/TDS. While these parameters were measured for the purpose of this study to determine a relationship between physical parameters and honey antioxidants, EC and moisture content are standard measurements for commercial honey production for regulatory purposes. Honey color is obtained by comparing to an amber colored standard and the results are expressed in distance within the sample. Previously he was getting these results by visually comparing the honey sample to a set of standards and found this to be subjective. He contacted Hanna about the HI96785, a portable photometer designed specifically for measuing the color of honey. The HI96785 gives results in mm, according to the Pfund scale. The Pfund scale, used to grade honey color, ranges from 0 to 140mm. As the color increases, so does the Pfund value. The researcher appreciated that the HI96785 also came with a table that allowed him to determine the color classification based on the Pfund value. The color scale includes the classifications water white, extra white, white, extra light amber, light amber, amber and dark. He also liked that the HI96785 was so easy to use and gave a direct measurement, which took away the subjectivity of comparing the samples to a set of standards. The HI96785 comes with a glycerol standard but additional standards and cuvettes can be ordered for additional analysis. The C219/C220 kit includes 82 cuvettes, 30 mL of glycerol and two 5 mL syringes. The glycerol standard is used to calibrate the instrument before analysis. The honey sample is then placed into a disposable cuvette, inserted into the instrument, and covered with the light shield for analysis.

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