Honey powder produced by spray drying as an ingredient: A new perspective using a plant-based protein as a carrier

Honey is an excellent alternative to be used in different applications by the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries. However, the use of honey in its liquid form can present several disadvantages due to its high viscosity and density. In addition, honey can naturally crystallize during storage time, limiting its application in new products by industries. Thus, an alternative to using liquid honey in industry is the powder form. The objective of this study was to obtain honey powder by spray drying using a plant-based protein as a carrier. The honey used as raw material showed acceptable physicochemical parameters by the legislation of honey quality control, such as pH of (4.0 +/- 0.1), the water content of (20.70 +/- 0.3) g/100 g, ash of (0.48 +/- 0.02) g/100 g, the fructose content of (35.42 +/- 0.14) g/100 g, (43.05 +/- 0.46) g/100 g for glucose, (0.56 +/- 0.02) g/100 g for sucrose, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) value of (37.47 +/- 1.04) mg/kg of honey, leading to the production of the honey powder. The mixture of fresh honey and plant-based protein was made with dispersions of 15, 16 and 18 g/100 g of honey using isolated rice protein as a carrier (total solid at 30 g/100 g d.b.). Finally, the honey powder produced was physicochemically characterized. The dispersion with 16 g/100 g of honey achieved an intermediary sugar/honey recovery of 35.93 +/- 0.82% and 68.54 +/- 2.16% of total protein recovery, and the spray drying yield was satisfactory > 50%. The overall results suggested that this dispersion is the ideal formulation when commercialization of the honey powder as an ingredient is intended.