[LMB] OT: another AKICOTL request: sugars

[Mark Allums]

Nicholson, Sue wrote:
> Me:
> Can you get glucose syrup Becca?
> 
> Becca:
> hm. I'll have to look fo rit - don't recall ever seeing it in grocery stores. Is this something a pharmacy would be likely to have, or someplace like Whole Foods?
> 
> 
> Stacey
> I think the USA equivlent of glucose syrup is corn syrup.  There is also the agave syrup tho I dont know if it would affect the taste
> 
> Me again:
> Yes I have seen it in pharmacies. Possibly whole food places if they do brewing supplies etc. I do use it as a substitute in confectionary recipes that call for corn syrup, which is not easy to get here. Not sure about corn syrups taste, but glucose syrup doesn't have any other than sweetness to me.
> 
> Sue N
> 
> 

White corn syrup is used in making candy, especially hard candy.  It
doesn't crystallize.  Dark corn syrup is used for baking pecan pies and
such.  Both can be found in the baking isle, near the flour and sugar.
(Not with the breakfast syrups.)

Corn sugar is dextrose.  It also contains fructose.  However the
high-fructose corn syrup used in soda pop and processed foods is the
result of chemical engineering.

Dextrose is a fine substitute for glucose.  So is sucrose.  Dextrose is
simply the right-handed isomer.

Talk to a food chemist to get ideas about "unflavored sweetness".

Deriving flavors is still an art, however.

One result of that art is that, periodically, we get a new batch of
artificial flavors.  Also, periodically, they bring out new, improved
versions.  Of course, it comes down to money.  A wonderful flavoring may
ceased to be available because it is too expensive to produce.
Sometimes, the natural equivalent is unavailable due to political unrest
in the region where it is harvested.  That is one reason why things like
flavors come and go in the market place.

Mark Allums