Honey from cotton blossoms tends to crystallize rapidly resulting in a product with hard texture and low spreadability, even if it is processed via a controlled crystallization treatment that is often employed for production of creamed honey. The aim of this study was to develop a cotton honey-based spread (CHS) with acceptable physical and textural properties by adding fructose (1–6%) and water (up to 18% final moisture) into the initial cotton honey as well as controlling the temperature during crystallization, T_cryst (5–23 °C × 20 days) and a conditioning (tempering) step as a follow-up process, T_cond (20–30 °C × 10 days). Multi-instrumental analysis (rheometry, calorimetry, microscopy, colorimetry) and sensory (spreadability, mouthfeel) evaluation were used for characterization of textural properties of the CHS preparations. With increased fructose and water contents the CHS formulations exhibited significant (p < 0.05) lower Glucose/Water ratios (crystallinity index), steady shear and complex viscosities, hardness, spreadability work and melting enthalpy of sugar microcrystals, as well as improved organoleptic characteristics of this new spread product based on cotton honey. Moreover, with increasing T_cryst, only the lightness and the melting enthalpy decreased, while the damping factor increased. Instead, the T_cond did not affect any of the above parameters (p > 0.05). Strong correlations were identified between compositional, physicochemical attributes and sensory characteristics of the formulated product, implying that instrumental analyses of CHS along with sensory tests can be a valuable holistic approach for understanding the macrostructure, evaluating the physical properties and quality attributes, and predicting the consumer preference of the new spread product.

来自棉花花的蜂蜜往往会迅速结晶，导致产品质地坚硬且涂抹性低，即使它是通过受控结晶处理进行加工的，这种处理通常用于生产奶油蜂蜜。本研究的目的是通过将果糖 (1–6%) 和水 (最终水分高达 18%) 添加到最初的棉花蜂蜜中，开发一种具有可接受的物理和质地特性的棉花蜂蜜涂抹酱 (CHS)。控制结晶过程中的温度，T _CRYST（5-23°C×20天）和空调（回火）步骤作为后续过程，T _COND（20–30 °C × 10 天）。多仪器分析（流变测定法、量热法、显微镜检查、比色法）和感官（涂抹性、口感）评估用于表征 CHS 制剂的质地特性。随着果糖和水含量的增加，CHS 制剂表现出显着 ( p  < 0.05) 较低的葡萄糖/水比（结晶度指数）、稳定的剪切和复杂的粘度、硬度、铺展性功和糖微晶的熔化焓，以及改进的感官特性这种基于棉花蜂蜜的新涂抹产品。此外，随着_{Tcryst 的}增加，只有亮度和熔化焓降低，而阻尼因子增加。相反，T_条件不影响上述任何参数（p  > 0.05）。在配方产品的成分、物理化学属性和感官特征之间确定了很强的相关性，这意味着 CHS 的仪器分析和感官测试可以成为理解宏观结构、评估物理特性和质量属性以及预测消费者的有价值的整体方法新价差产品的偏好。