Brown sugar characterization based on sucrose, Cu, Ca, Na, Fe and Mg contents

Abstract

Samples of light brown sugar (DPC) and dark sugar (DPE) were analyzed, determining their characteristics, based on metal concentration and sucrose data, through of the principal component analysis (PCA). For this purpose, a matrix with 97 sugar samples and 6 variables (sucrose, Cu, Ca, Na, Fe and Mg) was obtained, self-scaling the data with zero mean and unit variance. The principal component analysis showed the common and discrepant characteristics between the different brown sugars. In the data arrangement in the PCA, it is possible to observe that the first two principal components explain practically 70% of the total variance of the data. Observing the separation between the light brown sugar group (DPC) and the dark brown sugar group (DPE), in the first principal component while in the second principal component the separation of the samples from the light brown sugar group (DPC) is evident of six dark brown sugar (DPE) samples, which showed similar characteristics to the light brown sugar group (DPC) samples in first principal component. These characteristics of the samples are evidenced probably due to the cooking process in which cleaning is carried out, to remove the foams formed during the heating of the broth, in order to ensure a lighter product. In this operation, as evidenced by the analyzes, calcium and iron are removed, two variables, in addition to sucrose, which are more significant in the classification of dark brown sugar (DPE).