Sugar’s Functional Roles

in Cooking & Food

Preparation
 The natural sweetener... 15 calories per teaspoon!
 Sugar is the disaccharide sucrose (C12H22O11), a carbohydrate found in every fruit and
vegetable.
 All green plants manufacture sugar through photosynthesis, the process by which plants
transform sunlight and soil nutrients into their food and energy supply.
 Sugar cane and sugar beets contain sucrose in large quantities; that’s why they are used as
the source of the sugar we use. The sugar removed from sugar cane and sugar beets is
exactly the same as the sugar found in all fruits and vegetables.
 Fully processed beet sugar and cane sugar are identical products and may be used
interchangeably for all purposes.
Types of Sugar

Granulated Sugars
 “Regular” sugar, extra fine or fine sugar
 Fruit sugar- Fruit sugar is slightly finer than “regular” sugar, more uniform crystal size
than “regular” sugar.
 Bakers Special- Bakers Special’s crystal size is even finer than that of fruit sugar. (caster
sugar)
 Superfine, ultrafine, or bar sugar- This sugar’s crystal size is the finest of all the types of
granulated sugar. It is ideal for extra-fine textured cakes and meringues,
Granulated Sugars

 Confectioners or powdered sugar- This sugar is granulated sugar ground to a smooth

powder and then sifted. It contains about 3% corn-starch to prevent caking. (icing sugar)
 Coarse sugar -The crystal size of coarse sugar is larger than that of “regular” sugar. Coarse
sugar is recovered when sugar syrups high in sucrose are allowed to crystallize
 Sanding sugar- Another large crystal sugar, sanding sugar, is used mainly in the baking and
confectionery industries to sprinkle on top of baked goods.
Brown Sugars

 Turbinado sugar- This sugar is raw sugar which has been only partially processed,
removing the surface molasses.
 Brown sugar (light and dark) - Brown sugar retains some of the molasses syrup, which
imparts a pleasant flavor. Brown sugar tends to clump because it contains more moisture
than white sugar.
 Muscovado or Barbados sugar - Muscovado sugar, a British specialty brown sugar, is very
dark brown and has a particularly strong molasses flavor.
 Free-flowing brown sugars- These sugars are specialty products produced by a
cocrystallization process. The process yields fine, powder-like brown sugar that is less
moist than “regular” brown sugar.
Brown Sugars
 Demerara sugar - Popular in England, Demerara sugar is a light brown sugar with large
golden crystals, which are slightly sticky. It is the residual sugar obtained during the process
of refining sugar.

 Date sugar – obtained from drying and pulverizing the dates, very sweet
 Does not dissolve very well.
 Plump sugar – traditionally made from sap of date plum
Liquid Sugars
 Liquid sugars - There are several types of liquid sugar. Liquid sucrose (sugar) is essentially
liquid white sugar and can be used in products wherever dissolved
 Invert sugar- Inversion of sucrose with acid or chemical results in invert sugar, the acid
breaks down the sucrose to an equal mixture of glucose and fructose. Available
commercially only in liquid form, invert sugar is sweeter than white sugar. It is used mainly
in food products to retard crystallization of sugar and retain moisture.
 Honey – natural sugar from the bee hives.
 Syrups
 Golden Syrup – it is a thick amber colored liquid obtained from the sugar during the
refining process. It is treated with acid to cut down on the sharp test.
 Corn Syrup – it is chemically refined syrup made from corn kernels. Usually obtained as
clear liquid. Very sweet contains high amount of fructose.
 Maple
Syrup – natural sweetener, a sap from maple tree, it is thick and concentrated.
Commercial maple syrups are combination of corn syrup and maple syrup.
 Treacle – when the sugar cane juice under goes refining at the first stage white sugar or
raw sugar is removed and remaining liquid is known as treacle. It is stronger than golden
syrup and milder than molasses.
 Molasses

The most common forms of molasses are made from either

sugar cane or sugar beet juice which is boiled down to a
syrup. Sugar crystals are extracted from the syrup, and the
remaining dark liquid is molasses.
Itis Slightly "Less Bad" Than Sugar. Molasses contains
several important nutrients and antioxidants, making it a
better option than refined sugar.
Molasses and sugar crystals together form jaggery.
 Caramelization of sugar
 Browning of sugar
 Non enzymatic browning
 Sweet nutty flavour
 Caramelization of sugar: ( temp in centigrade)
 105 - simple sugar syrup
 110-112 - Pearl
 112 – 116 soft ball
 118- 120 - firm ball
 121 -130 – hard ball
 Caramelization of sugar
 132-143 – soft crack
 146- 154 – Hard crack
 160 – clear liquid
 160-165 – caramel
 Above 165 - burnt
Beyond its contributions as a sweetener and flavor-enhancer, sugar:
 1. Interacts with molecules of protein or starch during baking and cooking process.
 2. Acts as a tenderizer by absorbing water and inhibiting flour gluten development, as well
as delaying starch gelatinization
 3. Incorporates air into shortening in the creaming process.
 [Link] under heat, to provide cooked and baked foods with pleasing color and
aroma.
 5. Speeds the growth of yeast by providing nourishment.
 6. Serves as a whipping aid to stabilize beaten egg foams.
Beyond its contributions as a sweetener and flavor-enhancer, sugar:
 7. Delays coagulation of egg proteins in custards.
 8. Regulates the gelling of fruit jellies and preserves.
 9. Helps to prevent spoilage of jellies and preserves.
 10. Improves the appearance and tenderness of canned fruits.
 11. Delays discoloration of the surface of frozen fresh fruits.
 12. Enables a wide variety of candies through varying degrees of recrystallization.
 13. Controls the reformation of crystals through inversion (breakdown to fructose
 and glucose).
 14. Enhances the smoothness and flavor of ice cream.
 SWEETNSRS

NATURAL

EXTRACTED/SYNTHET
NON SYNTHETIC ARTIFICIAL
IC
Not synthetic
 Honey
 Maple syrup
 Molasses
 Extracted, synthetic
 Polyols
 Stevioside
 Thaumatin
 Sucrose
 Artificial
 Acesulfame potassium
 Aspartame
 Saccharin
 Sucralose
 sodium cyclamate
 Neotame
 Natural Sweetners

Honey Maple Syrup

sweetness from the
monosaccharides
Maple syrup is a sweetener made Molasses
from the is a viscous by-product of the refining of
fructose and glucose, 74% of the sap of some maple trees, This sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. ,
sweetness of sucrose, Most A typical composition of molasses
sap has only contains
microorganisms
3% to 5% total solids, consisting the following substances: sucrose 35.9 %
do not grow in honey
because of its low water activity of mainly of fructose 5.6 %......,

0.6. sucrose.
Extracted, synthetic

 Sucrose

 Table sugar- a disaccharide, formed from the monosaccharides glucose and fructose
 white sugar from sugar beets. Brown sugars are made with the use of cane molasses as
a mother liquor component or as a crystal coating
 Thaumatin- of a West African plant , Thaumatococcus danielli. sold as Talin
 Stevioside - A sweet glycoside extracted from the leaves of the plant Stevia
rebaudiana Bertoni. Stevioside ,sucrose,Thaumatin are the only sweetners extracted
and refined from plants without chemical or enzymic modification.
 Polyols-
Extracted, synthetic

 Polyols
 polyol is an alcohol containing multiple hydroxyl groups, Polyols are carbohydrates
but they are not sugars.
 sugar replacer, produced by hydrogenation of sugars and syrups with aid catalyst ,
used as direct replacements for sugar. Polyols are suitable for diabetics by virtue of
a reduced glycaemic index .
 polyols are Used in making Isomalt
 Isomalt – a sugar alcohol, available in crystalline form used for sugar garnishes,
more stable than sugar and does not caramelize.
Artificial sweeteners

 sweeteners have no calories, are derived from a chemical synthesis of organic

compounds which may or may not be found in nature.
 Saccharin -synthesized commercially from toluene, usually available as the sodium
salt and calcium salt. it is high stability and low cost. disadvantage of bitter, metallic
after – taste. It is 300 times sweeter than sucrose .
 Cyclamate- metabolised to a product called cyclohexylamine Cyclamate and
saccharin is combined in the ratio 10:1 on a sweetness equivalency basis ,produced a
most desirable sweetness where cyclamate masked the after- taste of saccharin .
 Aspartame- is a dipeptide methyl ester composed of two amino acids phenylalanine
and aspartic acid .
Artificial sweeteners

 Neotame- is sweeter than some marketed no-calorie sweeteners and is approximately

30-40 times sweeter than Aspartame; 7,000-13,000 times sweeter than sugar. It is
quickly metabolized and fully eliminated by the body via normal biological processes.
It is used in foods and beverages, including, chewing gum, carbonated soft drinks,
refrigerated and non-refrigerated ready-to-drink beverages, table top sweeteners
 Acesulfame-K was discovered by accident by German scientists Clauss and Jensen in
1967. It is ideal for tabletop use and is soluble in hot and cold beverages . An
advantage of Acesulfame K is that it does not break down in heat so it can be used in
cooking or baking.
 Sucralose- is an intense sweetener made by selective substitution of the hydroxyl
groups of sucrose with [Link] resultant molecul is 600 times sweeter than sugar
(sucrose), has taste characteristics very similar to sugar, and is extremely stable to
heat and to acid media.