## 3 Results
### Physicochemical Properties of Powders
#### 3.5.1 Particle Morphology and Size
(2017), who spray dried honey conventionally and with the  
Figure 2: Scanning electron microphotographs (SEMs) of buckwheat honey powders containing 50 and 75% honey solids obtained with maltodextrin (MD) or milk powder (MP) as carriers by conventional spray drying (SD) and dehumidified-air-assisted spray drying (DASD). application of dehumidified air, observed the same relationship when MP was used as a carrier [17]. Generally speaking, if the powders were characterized solely based on the particle morphology, the most problematic drying would be reported for SDMD50 and DASDMD75 variants, SDMP50 and DASDMP75 would be less problematic, and DASDMD50 and DASDMP50 would be considered as having issue-free processes. These findings highlight an important role of the application of dehumidified air in the powder production of particles that are more spherical and smaller in size and that have smooth surfaces. Particle size distribution and cumulated particle size distribution figures (Figure 3) confirm the above-presented differences between variants. Particle diameters of variants with MD as a carrier ranged up to \(90\)\(\upmu\)m. Powders with MP as a carrier (SDMP50, DASDMP50, DASDMP75) had uniform particle size distribution, while for powders with MD as a carrier (SDMD50, DASDMD50, DASDMD75), the distribution varied depending on the drying parameters and carrier content. Obtained results would seem to suggest that MP might be a better carrier to produce buckwheat honey powders with uniform particle size distribution--regardless of the given parameters--than MD, as was confirmed as well by particle morphology. Moreover, a variant spray dried at lower drying temperatures with MD as a carrier (DASDMD50) was distinguished with bimodal particle size distribution, which presumably was an effect of many smaller particles filling the space between bigger particles; this can be observed as well on SEM photographs (Figure 2). Values of median diameter \(D_{50}\) are presented in  
Figure 3: Particle size distribution and cumulated particle size distribution of buckwheat honey powders containing 50 and 75% honey solids obtained with maltodextrin (MD) or milk powder (MP) as carriers by conventional spray drying (SD) and dehumidified-air-assisted spray drying (DASD). Table 3, and obtained results revealed that particles of powders where MP was used as a carrier (SDMP50, DASDMP50, DASDMP75) were characterized with the smallest \(D_{50}\), and there was no statistically significant difference between variants, regardless of the parameters and carrier content. This is in good agreement with [PERSON] et al. (2013), who noted a decrease in \(D_{50}\) (from 66.8 to 16.5 \(\upmu\)m) when MD was replaced with protein carrier in a solution containing 60% honey solids [31]. [PERSON] et al. (2015) observed a decrease as well after addition of 2% sodium caseinate to honey and gum Arabic solutions [12]. There was no reported relationship between the feed's viscosity and \(D_{50}\), as generally it can be observed that the greater the viscosity, the larger the powder's particles [42]. It has been suggested by [PERSON] et al. (2015) that, in honey spray drying, viscosity does not influence particles size as it is more affected by feed solution composition (carrier/honey content) [29]. The same observation was noted in more recent research by [PERSON] et al. (2019) [20]. The Pearson correlation coefficient was determined to confirm correlations between investigated physiochemical parameters (Table A1), and it showed that \(D_{50}\) was highly correlated with MC. MC decreased with an increase in drying temperature when both carriers were applied and was affected by carrier type. At the same time, \(D_{50}\) increased with an increase in drying temperature, and it was significantly influenced by carrier type.