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Correlation between Moisture and Water Activity of Honeys Harvested in Different Years
Author(s) -
Cavia M.M.,
FernáezMuiño M.A.,
Huidobro J.F.,
Sancho M.T.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.2004.tb10699.x
Subject(s) - moisture , correlation , environmental science , water activity , water content , food science , chemistry , horticulture , biology , mathematics , geology , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , geometry
For the 1st time, a relationship has been investigated between moisture percentage (M) and water activity (aW) in honeys from 2 different harvesting years and 2 different climatic areas. Moisture was determined by measuring refractive index at 20°C, according to official methods. At the same time, aW of the same samples was assessed at exactly 20°C. Influence on the relationship of the crop's year, aging, and induced fine granulation was evaluated. The results show that, independent of all factors studied, an excellent and statistically significant linear correlation between both parameters [aW = 0.3114 + (0.0170 × M)] was found in all samples with a regression coefficient of 0.8809. The measurement of aW of honey is interesting but time‐consuming. This study concludes that this parameter can be easily calculated from the moisture percentage, thus avoiding the use of expensive and slow equipment for aW measurement.