The use of ultrafiltration membrane treated honey in food processing

Sometimes trouble occurs when honey is used as an ingredient in food proces sing;for instance, poor rising during the manufacture of Castilla, and spon ge cake employing honey as an ingredient, sediment formation on mixing hone y with fruit juices, and contamination of microorganisms. In order to deter mine the causes we studied a) poor rising of Castilla by using various kind s of honey with different diastase activity and b) sediment formation by mi xing juice with various kinds of honey with different concentration of wate r-soluble proteins. We also investigated whether ultrafiltration treatment of honey would improve its quality. An ultrafiltration membrane with a mole cular weight cut-off of 10,000 was used. The rising ratio of Castilla with honey against one without honey decreased with in creasing diastase activit y. Whereas poor rising did not occur when honey obtained from the ultrafilt ration membrane treatment was added. When honey is mixed with lemon, grape and apple juices, the amounts of sediment increased in proportion to the co ntent of water-soluble proteins. But no sediment was formed in mixing juice with honey treated with the membrane, Microorganisms were completely remov ed by the ultrafiltration membrane treatment. This suggests that honey trea ted by ultrafiltration is a safe ingredient for food processing. In conclus ion, the ultrafiltration improves the quality of honey and provides honey a s a safe ingredient in food processing.