Physicochemical and antioxidant activity of rubber honey powder prepared by foam-mat vacuum drying

Producing powdered honey remains a technical challenge for both industry and researchers due to honey's inherent stickiness and thermal sensitivity. Foam mat drying is the process of converting materials from liquid to stable foam before air drying, enhancing drying efficiency and reducing product loss. Tween 60 is a low molecular surfactant that can absorb water well at the air-water interface and reduce tension, increasing the surface area of the drying material. This study aimed to develop honey powder from rubber (H. brasiliensis) using maltodextrin (MD) and gum Arabic (GA) as carrier agents. Foam-mat drying under vacuum conditions was applied, and the resulting honey powders were evaluated for their physicochemical properties, antioxidant capacity, and bioactive compound contents. The results showed that MD-based honey powder exhibited significantly lower moisture content (1.53%), faster dissolving time (43.05 s), higher solubility (99.34%), bulk density (0.65 g/mL), tapped density (1.81 g/mL), and powder yield (96%) than its GA-based counterpart. In contrast, GA-based honey powder had a higher hygroscopic rate (0.015 g.H₂O/g solid.h), glass transition temperature (45.3°C), diastase activity (6.09 DN), total phenolic content (107.70 mg GAE/100 g), total flavonoid content (48.07 µg QE/100 g), and stronger antioxidant activity (lowest IC₅₀ = 5.68 mg/ mL). GA-based honey powders also lower hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) content (11.81 mg/100 g), Hausner ratio (2.32) and Carr Index (56.90%) than the MD-based counterpart. Thus, the results concluded that GA had a higher potential as a carrier for producing honey powder using vacuum foam mat drying than MD.