Colour characterisation of thyme and avocado honeys by diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry and spectroradiometry

Abstract

The colour of 23 thyme and 13 avocado honeys was assessed by tristimulus colorimetry based on their spectra, using diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry and spectroradiometry, with the application of the equations for the uniform colour space CIELAB proposed by the Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage. The best results for distinguishing between the two types of honey have been obtained from spectroradiometry rather than from spectrophotometry. With the discriminant analysis it has been revealed that the two honey types studied are better characterised when considering lightness, chroma (\( C^{ * }_{{{\text{ab}}}} \)) and hue angle as variables (94% correct), with \( C^{ * }_{{{\text{ab}}}} \) and the hue being the parameters with the highest discriminating power.