The purity of honey

Abstract

This study was carried out to identify, define, and determine the purity of honey which is one of the products that are consumed widely ai:id whose purity is often questioned, using 6 parameters (viscosity, surface tension, total ash amount, pH, sugar content and colour intensity). Honeys are widely consumed because honeys are wellknown for its nutritious and medicinal purposes. The six parameters were chosen because these are the several things that are being manipulated by manufacturers to increase profit margin. Some manufacturers will add water; colour, sugar and etc. to try to make their products look pure, real, and convincing. For this research, pure Tualang honeys from Cameron Highlands will be used. Therefore, after the research, it can be concluded that only the viscosity, pH, total ash amount, colour intensity, and sugar content can be used to identify the purity level of honey. On the other hand, the surface tension parameter is not suitable to be used to identify the purity of honey. In conclusion, pure honey has a viscosity of 4608 ± 10 cP (with a percentage of torque of 38.40 ± 0.10%), total ash amount of 0.2076 ± 0.1100 %, pH of 2.85 ± 0.02, colour intensity with a L* value of 20.11 ± 0.7; a* value of 12.61 ± 0.8, and b* value of 16.40 ± 1.1, and sugar content (measured according to the colour intensity of the solution) of L * value of 21.41 ± 0.9; a* value of -0.12 ± 0.6, b* value of 4.74 ± 0.6. Therefore, it is hoped that through this research, consumers' will be able to obtained honeys that are really pure.