Sugar Components in Honey

Determination of Sugar Components in Honey

Sugars are organic compounds that react most with different chemical compounds and give various reaction products. 15 sugars including fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose, isamaltose, erlose, kestose, hybriditz, raffinose were detected in honey.

Maltose and sucrose (from glucose and fructose) found in honey are disaccharides. In general, the amount of sugar types in honey is an important parameter in determining the degree of maturation of honey and whether it is adulterated. While the amount of sucrose is high in immature honey, the amount of glucose is less. This prevents crystallization. With the maturation of honey, the amount of sucrose decreases and crystallization occurs faster.

Each of the glucose, fructose and sucrose amounts can be determined separately by enzymatic and titrimetric methods. In sucrose determination, sucrose is inverted into invert sugar. The amount of sucrose is determined by multiplying the total amount of sugar obtained after inversion by a factor of 0.95.

The most common method used for the determination of invert sugar (glucose + fructose) in honey; It is the Lane-Eynon method. The method is based on the reduction of Cu-2 (Copper II) oxide in the fehling solution of invert sugar to water-insoluble Cu-1 (Copper I) oxide.

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