Article The flow properties of honey–malt spread M Dianat, M Taghizadeh, F Shahidi and SMA Razavi Abstract In this study, the effect of barley malt extract at two brix levels (74 and 79  Bx) and three ratios of malt extract/ honey (65:35, 70:30 and 75:25) on the flow behavior properties of honey–malt spread at three temperature levels (35  C, 45  C and 55  C) was investigated. Time-dependent behavior data of the spread samples were appropriately fitted to the Weltman, first-order stress decay with a zero stress value and first-order stress decay with a non-zero stress value models. Also, the Power-law, Herschel–Bulkley, Casson and Bingham models were used for curve fitting the time-independent behavior data. Regarding the R 2 and root mean square error coefficients, the first-order stress decay with a non-zero stress value and Herschel–Bulkley models were selected as the suitable models to describe the flow behavior of samples. The results for time-dependent properties showed that spread samples exhibit a thixotropic behaviour, as the viscosity for all samples decreased with increase in shearing time at a constant shear rate of 50 s 1 . Keywords Honey–malt, spread, flow properties Date received: 20 July 2016; accepted: 31 January 2017 INTRODUCTION Spreads are food products that are produced based on certain types of foods, and they have spreadability on other foods such as breads and crackers. Researchers have confirmed that some traits such as coloring, fla- voring and other characteristics of fruits are used to optimize the formulation of spreads (Holzwarth et al., 2013). Many different types of spreads are now com- mercially available, which consist of blends of milk fat and vegetable fat, products with fat contents varying from over 80% to less than 5%, spreads of a water continuous nature and products containing significant levels of milk protein and hydrocolloid emulsion stabi- lizing agents (Moran and Rajah, 1994). Although the term ‘‘spread’’ is generally used for products containing fat with the ability to spread, which is called spread- ability, this term could also be used for foods such as honey (Batt and Liu, 2012). Moreover, we might mention food products such as malt extract as a spread, although it has not been mentioned in any source. Malt extract is obtained from the evaporation and condensation of aqueous extract of cereal grains, espe- cially barley, that passed the process of malt produc- tion. Malt extract has high nutritional value and contains antioxidant compounds including polyphe- nols, carotenoids (lutein and zeaxantin) and tocoph- erols (a, d and g) (Goupy et al., 1999). Malt extract also contains several types of vitamins including vita- mins C, B 1 ,B 2 ,B 3 ,B 5 and B 6 as well as minerals such as zinc, iron, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus (Briggs, 1978; Laufer et al., 1942). The b-glucan content of malt extract increases the secretion of prolactin and therefore is recommended as a powerful actogenic food for stimulating the secretion of milk in mothers Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM), Mashhad, Islamic Republic of Iran Corresponding author: M Taghizadeh, Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 91775-1163, Islamic Republic of Iran. Email: mtaghizadeh@um.ac.ir Food Science and Technology International 0(0) 1–11 ! The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1082013217695175 journals.sagepub.com/home/fst