ESPÉCIE DE ABELHAS SEM FERRÃO E O PROCESSAMENTO DO MEL INFLUENCIA A PREFERÊNCIA?

Honey of stingless bees presents high moisture content, a factor that limits their commercialization, necessitating treatments to increase their conservation. However, the methods provided by meliponicultores to increase the shelf life of the product can alter the sensorial characteristics of the honey, in another way, the honey can have its flavor, color and contents of sugars differentiated by the bee and flowering species visited. Sensory analysis can be considered as a tool to determine the degree of acceptability of the product by the consumer. In this way, the present work had the objective of analyzing by means of sensory evaluation whether the conservation methods (pasteurization and refrigeration) and the species of bees (Melipona interrupta and Scaptotrigona aff. xanthotricha) influence the consumer preference. The samples were submitted to two treatments: pasteurization and refrigeration. The conservation methods influenced the acceptability, where the samples submitted to refrigeration obtained higher scores for the two species, while the pasteurization obtained higher averages for the honey of the species Melipona interrupta. Therefore, the conservation method and the bee species influence the consumer preference.