Análise sensorial do mel usando a técnica de perfil livre e sua aplicação em concursos de mel

Abstract

Brazil has rich and varied vegetation, with a diversified climate that promotes beekeeping. In Paraná, the production of honey has been growing, currently is the second national producer in 2012. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the sensory attributes of 21 samples of honey, collected in bee properties to denote parameters for a contest of honey. The physico-chemical quality of the samples were evaluated by determining moisture, acidity and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), thus the sensory analysis were applied using free choice profile methodology order to identify the attributes discriminants of sensory quality of honey. According to those three analysis of honey standards, the values obtained for acidity and HMF were within the limit, however in moisture analysis, two samples did not fit in the established limit (20%), thus these samples were eliminated from the following steps of the study. By studying the properties according to the network method, the tasters have raised from 12 to 23 attributes to describe the samples. The most frequently mentioned characteristics were brilliant appearance as honey and candied; sweet and characteristic honey aroma; sweet, astringent, and honey flavor; and finally, liquid, creamy and candied texture. The tasters had difficulties to describe aroma and flavor, therefore they raised a large number of attributes. However, to describe the appearance and texture, they demonstrated greater ease to characterize, so the number of attributes was lower. In the evaluation of discrimination capacity of the tasters, was observed that there was no residual variance significant, and there was a consensus among them. The configurations of the repetitions of the samples were very close in dimensions, demonstrating good capacity of repetitions of the tasters. The attributes for appearance and texture were the most outstanding, being those the ones that had led to the separation of the samples, forming groups with similar characteristics and different sensory qualities. In the right quadrant were formed groups of liquid samples, the attributes brilliant and liquid appearance and liquid texture were responsible for the separation of this samples, and in the left quadrant was formed the group of candied samples at different levels, from creamy consistence until fully candied. It was possible to conclude that the sensory analysis of free choice profile could be applied in a contest of honey without the obligation of training and imposing attributes. This allowed the identification of samples first with appearance and texture attributes and then with aroma and flavor. It was possible to form groups of samples, which makes it easier to awards the groups with closer attributes.