In collaboration with Dr. Eleonora Roncarati
(8) Guided crystallization techniques
As an alternative to liquid honey, techniques have been developed to guide the natural tendency to crystallize honey towards completely crystallized, stable, homogeneous, pleasant looking, creamy and pleasing to the consumer.
The simplest technique consists in mixing the liquid honey (still naturally liquid or liquefied) with completely crystallized honey, in fine crystal, in the proportion of 9 to 1. The mixture must be made at a temperature that allows easy mixing, without incorporation of air bubbles and that, at the same time, is not too high so as not to melt the crystals introduced. In practice it operates between 24 and 28 ° C. The honey is then put into jars, possibly after a decantation of a few hours to eliminate the incorporated air bubbles. The jars must then be placed at a temperature of 14 ° C (or temperatures as close as possible to this value). Within a few days the crystallization is completed, providing honey with fine crystallization, with a more or less compact consistency depending on the water content. The major drawback of this type of technique consists in the excessive compactness that low-moisture honeys take on, due to the formation of transverse crystals, which give the honey the structure of a solid. A further problem develops in conjunction with this type of structure: the formation of whitish outcrops, on the surface and in correspondence of air bubbles incorporated, due to the superficial evaporation of the water and to the drying of the glucose crystals, which appear so white. This is a purely aesthetic defect, but serious in that it jeopardizes consumer acceptability. To avoid this problem, it is necessary to adopt procedures that allow to separate the crystals from each other and thus give the completely crystallized honey a creamy consistency. One of the techniques used to obtain a creamy product is to work in two distinct phases. In the first phase a guided crystallization is produced under the conditions described above; the inseminated honey is then left to crystallize in large capacity containers (25 - 300 kg) at a temperature of 14 ° C. At the time of the potting, the stems are taken to a warm room at a temperature of 28 - 30 ° C until the partial softening of the honey (without fusion), which is then passed into a homogenizer, which separates the crystals and then put into jars (Gonnet, 1985 and 1986). Another technique that can be adopted consists in keeping the honey in mixing, after insemination, at temperatures in which the crystal formation is possible (around 20 ° C or lower). The agitation greatly accelerates the formation of crystals and in 2 - 3 days the crystallization is completed and the honey can be put into jars, possibly raising the temperature a few degrees, to facilitate the flow. The difficulty of this technique lies in the agitation of a cold and therefore very viscous mass of honey, which in addition to requiring considerable mechanical strength, risks absorbing air and therefore producing foam. It is therefore necessary to operate with sufficiently powerful systems, with propellers that remain completely immersed in honey and that rotate at a limited speed (a few revolutions per minute).
(9) Invasetamento
Once back clear for the elimination of the air and before the crystallization begins, the honey can be put into jars (for retail sale) or poured into milk or drums (for wholesale). A machine called an invasive machine is used for potting.
Under normal conditions, the phases that lead to the invasion of honey can take place in natural conditions, without carrying out any heat treatment. However, some processing plants apply heating systems to melt crystallized honeys, decrease viscosity and thus facilitate the settling, filtering and potting process.
The honey, however it is treated, is poured into the final packs intended for the consumer. These can be of various shapes and capacities: by far the most widespread material in Italy today is glass. Even plastic packaging is quite common, while the metal covered with materials suitable for contact with food (plastic or vitrified paint) and paraffinized cardboard have practically disappeared. In any case, the containers used must have a hermetic closure system, which totally insulates the honey from the air of the storage rooms and the materials used must, of course, be suitable for contact with food. The glass jar with the twist-off capsule gives the best guarantees of tightness, followed by other closure systems and plastic jars in general. Honey also lends itself to being packaged specifically for particular uses, for example in ceramic pots for gift packaging, in plastic, aluminum or coupled tubes for outdoor use (sports, hikers), or for children ( soft plastic packs in the shape of animals). Single portions are currently quite widespread: apart from the mignon glass jars (30 or 40 g), which also lend themselves to manual packaging, the other types of single portions (thermoformed trays, sachets) require specific equipment not suitable for small companies beekeeping. The dosing system can be manual (with the cut-off cocks commonly used with the ripeners and a weight control scale) or more or less automated. Also in this phase, care must be taken to ensure that the honey does not incorporate air likely to be sucked in by the doser.
Moreover:
- There must be no traces of product on the edge of the pot, which, in addition to affecting the tightness of the pot itself, would turn, in contact with the air and with the metal capsule, into unsightly blackish residues.
- It is necessary to check that the vessels used are sufficiently clean and free of dust, providing accordingly in the opposite case. The same attention should also be paid to the capsules.
- Remember that the thin seal of the capsules absorbs odors very easily: it is not uncommon to open a honey pot and smell a scent of detergent, cosmetics, medicines, essential oils or different foods, due to the storage of new capsules near these materials or to the recycling of the same capsules.
- The presentation of the finished product must take into account, as well as the technical aspects, of which we have occupied up to here, and commercial, of a series of legal obligations, related to the presentation of the product (labeling), of which the packaging company must take knowledge. .
(10) Storage
Storage is an important phase for honey as a high temperature, exposure to the sun or other incorrect operations can compromise the quality, taste and even the edibility of the product.
(11) Conservation
INTRODUCTION: the honey is extracted liquid but, in most cases, after a short time it tends to crystallize at the common storage temperatures. The crystallization process involves the formation of glucose crystals, in quantity, shape, and different arrangement depending on the conditions in which the crystallization itself took place.
In general, the longer the time in which this occurs, the larger the crystals are; the different honeys have a different tendency to crystallize depending on the composition (the lower the water content and the greater the glucose content, the greater the tendency to crystallize) and the storage temperature. The rate of crystal formation is: maximum at 14 ° C, while at inhibited at temperatures above 25 ° C and below 5 ° C; also the presence of solid particles in suspension and agitation favor crystallization. Only honey that proportionately contains a high fructose content remains naturally liquid for a long time. Furthermore, all honeys contain yeast cells, microorganisms responsible for alcoholic fermentation; under normal conditions, the high sugar concentration of honey prevents their development but, if the water content is high, the yeasts can develop on glucose giving rise to fermentation with the formation of alcohols, acids and carbon dioxide. Favorable conditions for fermentation are: water content of 18%; temperature of about 16 ° C; a fermented honey is not harmful to health, but besides being a degraded product, the law prohibits its commercialization for direct consumption and therefore represents an irreversible and very serious damage to which honey may be encountered during storage.
