Professor Merilyn Manley-Harris has published an interesting new paper in honey chemistry: Composition and potential as a prebiotic functional food of a Giant Willow Aphid (Tuberolachnus salignus) honeydew honey produced in New Zealand.
The carbohydrate composition of Giant Willow Aphid honeydew honey was characterised and shown to comprise a very high proportion of melezitose, a trisaccharide. Melezitose was demonstrated to be resistant to acid hydrolysis at gut pH and to enzymatic digestion by alpha-glucosidase, implying that it meets the prebiotic criterion of reaching the colon to be fermented by the colonic microflora.
A methodology for isolation of the melezitose was developed and a hard crack candy was produced from the original honey.
