Study of the Drying Process of Bee Pollen Melipona Fasciculata

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the drying process of Melipona fasciculata pollen. Method: The methodology adopted for this research involved drying the pollen in an oven at 40°C and in a BOD incubator at 5°C for 4, 12, 24, and 48 hours. Moisture, protein, lipid, ash, fiber, acidity, and pH analyses were performed. The fresh pollen had an initial moisture content of 63%, which decreased to an average of 25.68% in the oven and 25.08% in the BOD incubator after drying. To correlate the dehydration techniques with the physicochemical analyses and drying times, the selected experimental results were analyzed using ANOVA. Results and Discussion: The results showed average protein values of 29.20% in the oven and 30.07% in the BOD incubator; lipid values of 2.04% in the oven and 2.26% in the BOD incubator; ash values of 3.04% in the oven and 3.13% in the BOD incubator; fiber values of 3.82% in the oven and 3.63% in the BOD incubator. Acidity and pH had general values of 3.9 and 139.5384 mEq/kg, respectively. The drying process was effective in reducing moisture content; however, it remained far from the ideal level for bee pollen (4%), which undergoes a distinct production process with lower enzymatic activity during fermentation.