Rheological behaviour of chocolate formulated with honey

Dark chocolates were prepared by using different amount of honey (5, 15 and 20 %, w/w). Dark chocolates formulated with honey were analyzed during one year storage at 18°C using controlled temperature humidity chambers. Chocolates were analyzed thermal, rheological and textural methods using differential scanning calorimeter, texture analyzer and rheometer. Also, image properties were followed by using macroscope, hunter colorimeter and gloss meter. Fructose, glucose, and sucrose amount of honey was calculated as 32.05, 23.82, and 5.68 % respectively. Change in enthalpy values were occurred in greater amount in dark chocolate and in lesser amount in chocolate formulated with 20 % honey. Casson, Casson (linear) and Herschel-Bulkley models were applied to carry out the best descriptive rheological behavior of chocolates formulated with honey. According to Casson model, the yield and viscosity values of chocolates formulated with honey were higher than chocolates containing sucrose or no sweeteners. Chocolates containing 15 and 20 % honey have resulted with a higher storage modulus (G') than other samples over the frequency range 0.1 to 100 Hz. As a result of this study, the rheological behavior of the dark chocolates produced with different amounts of honey (5, 15 and 25 %) was quite different from each other.