Chemistry in the KitchenIntroduction |
Okay—last sweetener question—what is corn syrup? |
Corn syrup is made from cornstarch either by heating up starch in an acidic water solution or by adding an enzyme to break down the long starch molecules into simpler sugars. Chemically it is mostly maltose, which is a disaccharide (two glucose molecules stuck together) along with a small amount of larger chains of sugar molecules (oligosaccharides). The high-fructose variety is made by treating regular corn syrup with a second enzyme that converts glucose into (you guessed it) fructose.