Instrumental and visual evaluation of color change in Iranian honey samples under different illuminants

Color appearance could be an important factor to choose the honey. There are some factors such as changes in light conditions that could affect color appearance and consequently, customer’s decision to order. At the present study, the color appearance of 13 kinds of Iranian honey samples with different color was specified and raced under varying conditions of illumination and observer’s judgment. The color parameters in the CIE1976 color system, haze values and color in constancy index according to CMCCON02 algorithm were determined in order that the color appearance of the samples could be instrumentally assessed. The results showed that most of the samples are in the range of yellow shades with the wavelength of maximum absorption equal to 400nm. From the average amount of measured haze, it was deduced that the samples are not high transparency. In addition, for the samples with a lower intensity or chroma of color, it was obtained the higher color constancy value compared to those with the higher color chroma. The visual judgments of the samples showed that most of Iranian honey samples are distinguishable in to five main color groups. In respect of color preference, the samples with a higher chroma of color which also possess a higher color in constancy index were more preferred by the observers.