Physicochemical effects of different processing temperatures on 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde and the volatile flavor of domestic honey

This study was performed to suggest concentration methods leading to the production ofhoney with an excellent flavor by examining the effects of the concentration temperature and method on changes in 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (5-HMF) levels and the flavor components of honey. The 5-HMF contents of honey samples concentrated in a tray concentrator at 45, 50, 60, and 70℃ were 2.1, 2.3, 2.5, and 3.1 mg·kg^-1, respectively, demonstrating that the 5-HMF contents increased as the concentration temperatures were increased. The honey vacuum-concentrated at 70℃ showed a higher 5-HMF content than that at 60℃, similar to the tray-concentrated honey at different temperatures. The main and other minor flavor components of the honey were volatilized and significantly reduced after vacuum concentration. In the tray concentration, all of the honey samples concentrated at 40, 50, 60, and 70℃ showed flavor component patterns similar to each other, and most of the main and other minor flavor components in the honey were volatilized and significantly reduced after tray concentration. As such, most of the main and other minor flavor components of the honey were mostly removed at 70℃ after both the vacuum concentration and tray concentration processes. The effects of the concentration method and temperature on the viscosity, 5-HMF level, and flavor components of the honey were found to be significant in this study. Given that the components of honey were shown to undergo significant physicochemical changes depending on the concentration method used and temperature during laboratory-scale production, the concentration methods devised in this study can be applied industrially.