Storage and processing of honey

1 Storage

1.1 use a suitable container

Honey is a weakly acidic liquid, contact with metal will play an oxidizing role, so it is necessary to use non-metallic containers (except stainless steel buckets), such as tanks, wooden buckets, non-toxic plastic buckets, etc., but to wash and dry. Honey storage sites can be established in areas with high honey production. The storage container should be clean and dry, the honey storage should not be too full, and 25% to 30% of the space should be set aside during transportation to prevent the honey fermentation from overflowing or bursting the container when heated. The room temperature of honey storage should be kept at 5: 10 ℃. Do not leave the honey bucket in the open air for a long time.

1.2 varieties storage

There are different kinds of honey in different places. Honey of different flower species has different color, fragrance and taste. Even in the same region, there are differences, such as Ziyunying nectar, rape nectar, citrus nectar, bauhinia nectar, etc., therefore, should be stored separately to prevent mixing, in order to maintain their own characteristics and flavor.

1.3 keep clean

Honey often contains pollen lumps, wax flakes, bee wings, bee feet, ash sand and even bee corpses. The honey can be put in a high vat and filtered with gauze, and the pure honey floating on the upper layer can be fished out and stored separately. The precipitation time is 3 days at 20 ℃ and 10 hours at 35 ℃.

1.4 prevent fermentation

Honey contains yeast, which breaks down some of the sugar in honey. Immature honey, with high water content, is most suitable for yeast reproduction, easy to change acid, and is not suitable for storage. Therefore, before storage, this kind of honey should be put into a large-mouth container and placed in a dry, ventilated room with a temperature above 25 ℃ for several days to allow excess water to evaporate.

1.5 prevent moisture absorption and odor

According to the experiment, honey dew is placed in an indoor room with a relative humidity of 81%, and the moisture content can increase to 32% after 3 months, so it must be stored in sealed porcelain or pottery such as vats, squares, bowls and other pottery, and placed in a dry, ventilated room with a temperature of 5: 10 ℃. If the container is not guaranteed to be sealed, strong-smelling items should never be put in the storage room to prevent honey from absorbing odor.

1.6 Crystal

Crystallization is another characteristic of honey. There are three kinds of crystalline honey: greasy, fine-grained and coarse-grained. The crystalline honey has lighter color and thicker shape, which is beneficial to storage and transportation, while the honey supplied to the market is not only required to maintain the appearance of transparent and liquid state, but also to prevent crystallization, so the crystalline honey needs to be heated in a double pot to thaw. The outer layer of the pot is filled with water and the inner layer is filled with honey. when the water temperature reaches 71 ℃, keep for a few minutes and then remove the fire for 1 day, remove the surface foam, put it into a sterilized glass bottle and seal.

2 processing

2.1 concentration

2.1.1 the quality of raw material honey directly affects the quality of processed honey. The color, smell, moisture content, honey seed, amylase value (freshness index), collection time and pesticide residues of raw honey must be strictly tested one by one. The amylase value is above 8 before it can be used; if it is less than 8, it cannot be concentrated and processed. When it falls to close to zero, it must not be acquired.

2.1.2 according to the requirements of the order, purchase high-quality honey to mix honey samples, and then process and produce a large number of honey according to the samples and order requirements.

2.1.3 melting delays the crystallization of honey by heating to prevent fermentation and destruction of crystal nuclei. The heating temperature is 60-65 ℃ for 30 minutes. Stir when heating to evenly heat the honey and accelerate the melting.

2.1.4 Filtration keeps the temperature of heated honey at 40 ℃, making the honey in the best flow state, so that it can smoothly pass through multi-channel filtration and remove impurities and a small amount of larger crystals. Pressure filtration is carried out in the sealing device to shorten the heating time and reduce the loss of flavor.

7.1.5 A suitable vacuum concentration equipment is selected to concentrate honey under the condition of vacuum 720mm mercury and temperature 40: 50 ℃. The influence on the color, aroma and taste of honey can be reduced to a minimum. When concentrating, special attention should be paid to the recovery of aromatic volatile compounds after honey is heated. A fragrance recovery device is set up to recover and dissolve the volatile substances into the finished honey to maintain the unique smell of honey.

2.1.6 cooling will reduce the temperature of the concentrated honey as soon as possible, in order to avoid being stored at high temperature for a long time and reduce the quality of honey, and at the same time prepare for repackaging. In order to speed up cooling, it is best to force circulation and stirring cooling to maintain a good appearance and internal quality of the product.

2.1.7 Inspection and packaging should be tested by random sampling in the process of concentrated honey to keep the moisture content of processed honey stable within 17.5%-18%. Packing specifications can be divided into two categories: large packaging and small packaging. The large package is filled with iron buckets as containers, and the iron buckets should be coated with special paint that meets the requirements of food hygiene, so as to prevent the acid contained in honey from corroding the iron and causing pollution. The small package is mainly bottled, and the finished honey can be poured directly into the glass bottle which is cleaned and strictly sterilized.

2.1.8 Storage warehouses should be separated separately to avoid direct sunlight and high temperature, keep dry and ventilated, and prevent them from being stored with odorous objects.

2.2 crystalline honey

First concentrate the water content of liquid honey to less than 18%, then heat to 4950 ℃, and then filter out impurities and beeswax while hot. If possible, it is best to quickly heat the liquid honey to 55-56 ℃ through a plate heat exchanger, and then quickly filter through a 60-mesh filter to fully remove all visible particles. The liquid honey obtained after filtration should be immediately sent to a double-roll cooler for cooling. When the temperature of liquid honey drops to about 24 ℃, the crystal is introduced according to 10% of its weight and stirred evenly as soon as possible. The crystal can be taken from the last batch of crystalline honey, but it must be ground by colloid before introduction, and the finer the better. The temperature of liquid honey decreased gradually during the stirring process. When it is lower than 14-20 ℃, it is stable in this range to make the crystallization complete. The varieties should still be stirred several times a day for 2-3 days after introduction, and can be filled and sealed after 10-15 days. It should be noted that in the processing of crystalline honey, the mastery of crystallization temperature, the thickness of varieties and uniform distribution are the key to production. If the water content of liquid honey is low and the viscosity is low, it should be close to the lower limit. The variety needs to be ground thoroughly and stirred fully after adding, so as to prevent the production of coarse grains and affect the product quality.