Physical and rheological properties of minimally processed Jordanian wild flowers honeys were investigated. Eight honey samples collected from different regions were investigated. Rheological properties were measured in the temperature range between 28 and 58C. Water content, water activity and specific gravity were found to vary between 16.1 and 17.3 wt %, 0.495 and 0.557 and 1.246 and 1.33, respectively. Viscosity was found to be time independent but showed a power law shear thinning behavior. Viscosity decreased with increase in temperature in the range between 28 and 58C, especially below 38C. Shear thinning behavior was attributed to the presence of sugar granules and other colloidal particles in honey. Honey viscosity was modeled as a function of both shear rate and temperature by Nonlinear Regression. The results showed that RMSE varied between 1.52 and 2.49, and R2 varied between 0.91 and 0.97. The validity of each model and its parameters were checked by appropriate statistical significance tests. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Minimal processing of honey has been used widely to avoid reducing the pro‐health properties of this natural product. This however, presents a challenge in terms of modeling viscosity and other physiochemical properties. Most rheological studies of honey reported in literature subjected honey to various heat treatments to dissolve sugar crystal which forms naturally in honey. These crystals will reappear, however, and change the rheological properties of honey during the normal processing and handling conditions. This paper focuses on modeling, mechanisms and other important issues related to the topic and present a new prospective for measuring honey rheology in the presence of naturally formed crystals.

No abstract

Honey samples representing 12 different Mediterranean floral sources in Jordan were investigated for their phytochemical compounds and color. The floral composition (% pollen), total phenolics, total flavonoids, antioxidant activity, anthocyanins and color varied between locations. Total phenolics were highest (86.3 mg GAE/100 g) in the multifloral summer honey from Sarrout location and lowest (33.7 mg GAE/100 g) in the early spring harvest from the Jordan Valley. The flavonoid, anthocyanins and antioxidant activities were highest in summer honey from Umm Alyanabea location (4.6 mg/100 g, 4.1 mg/100 g and IC50 = 24.5 mg/mL, respectively) and were lowest in the early spring honey harvest from the Jordan Valley. The colors of Jordanian honey were visually noticeable, varying from yellowish, yellowish green to darker colors. Significant differences existed in the phytochemical compounds in different honey samples from different Mediterranean areas in Jordan. These differences mainly depended on floral sources. Practical Applications Honey is a natural product produced primarily from the nectar secreted by flowering plants gathered and processed by the honeybee (Apis millifera). It is an important and unique food product containing bioactive compounds derived from plant nectar or added by bees, and these compounds are known to act as natural antioxidants that play an important role in food preservation and human health through combating damage caused by oxidizing agents. Honey collected from different nectar of plant flower species contains different levels of phenolics that possess antioxidant activity, so different honey properties were expected since the composition of active compounds in honey from different locations should be different. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the bioactive compounds and color of honeys obtained from various plant vegetations in the arid and semiarid Mediterranean areas in Jordan.