Water Content of Acacia Honey Determined by Two Established Methods and by Optothermal Window

The major objective of the research study described here was to explore the potential of the optothermal window (OW) technique as a new approach towards a simple, rapid determination of water content in honey. Water, major component of foods, influences their physical and chemical properties. Single mode RLT-1480-40G laser diode and the standard addition method were used to calibrate the response of the OW detector at analytical wavelength of 1478 nm and to determine water content of Acacia honey. The performance of the OW method was compared to that of well established gravimetry and refractometry; the values obtained by the three different methods are practically the same.