A Comparative Study of Some Physical Properties of Available Types of Bee Honey in Saudi Arabia and Arabian Gulf States Markets With that of Sugar Syrup PDF

Keywords

electrical resistivity, sugar syrup, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Comparative study of some physical properties of available types of bee honey in Saudi Arabia and Arabian Gulf States markets with that of sugar syrup has been done in the temperature range from T =23- 90 °C. It shows that all these types of bee honey have similar refractive indices when measured by sodium D-lines (lambda = 5893 A), with little variation within 0.7% at room temperature (T = 23 °C) and 0.6% at T = 90 °C. The specific density of the samples is nearly the same within 2.6% at T = 23°C. The small difference in density and refractive index is due to the difference in water content in the specimens. The electrical resistivity of bee honey is about 60% less than that of sugar syrup at T = 23 °C. The behavior of the electrical resistivity variation with temperature of all samples is similar at T ~ 40 °C and at 50 °C the difference in electrical resistivity between sugar syrup and other samples was maximum then all show equal values at T = 80 °C. It is concluded that all types of bee honey have similar physical properties and differ from that of sugar syrup mainly in electrical resistivity when measured at T = 23 °C, which makes such a measurement an effective tool to differentiate bee honey from sugar syrup. This difference probably is due to the presence of some minerals, etc. in bee honey not available in sugar syrup.