Corn syrup

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Corn syrup Corn syrup.jpg
Corn syrup
A railroad tank car carrying corn syrup Corn syrup tank car.jpg
A railroad tank car carrying corn syrup

Corn syrup is a food syrup which is made from the starch of corn/maize and contains varying amounts of sugars: glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade. Corn syrup is used in foods to soften texture, add volume, prevent crystallization of sugar, and enhance flavor. It can be processed into high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) by using the enzyme D-xylose isomerase to convert a large proportion of its glucose into sweeter fructose.

Contents

The more general term glucose syrup is often used synonymously with corn syrup, since glucose syrup in the United States is most commonly made from corn starch. [1] [2] Technically, glucose syrup is any liquid starch hydrolysate of mono-, di-, and higher-saccharides and can be made from any source of starch: wheat, tapioca and potatoes are the most common other sources. [3] [4] [5]

Commercial preparation

Historically, corn syrup was produced by combining corn starch with dilute hydrochloric acid, and then heating the mixture under pressure. The process was invented by the German chemist Gottlieb Kirchhoff in 1811. Currently, corn syrup is obtained through a multi-step bioprocess. First, the enzyme α-amylase is added to a mixture of corn starch and water. α-amylase is secreted by various species of the bacterium genus Bacillus and the enzyme is isolated from the liquid in which the bacteria were grown. The enzyme breaks down the starch into oligosaccharides, which are then broken into glucose molecules by adding the enzyme glucoamylase, known also as "γ-amylase". Glucoamylase is secreted by various species of the fungus Aspergillus ; the enzyme is isolated from the liquid in which the fungus is grown. The glucose can then be transformed into fructose by passing the glucose through a column that is loaded with the enzyme D-xylose isomerase, an enzyme that is isolated from the growth medium of any of several bacteria. [6]

Corn syrup is produced from number 2 yellow dent corn. [7] When wet milled, about 2.3 litres of corn are required to yield an average of 947g of starch, to produce 1 kg of glucose syrup. A bushel (25 kg) of corn will yield an average of 31.5 pounds (14.3 kg) of starch, which in turn will yield about 33.3 pounds (15.1 kg) of syrup. Thus, it takes about 2,300 litres of corn to produce a tonne of glucose syrup, or 60 bushels (1524 kg) of corn to produce one short ton. [8] [9]

The viscosity and sweetness of the syrup depends on the extent to which the hydrolysis reaction has been carried out. To distinguish different grades of syrup, they are rated according to their dextrose equivalent (DE). Most commercially available corn syrups are approximately 1/3 glucose by weight.[ citation needed ]

Two common commercial corn syrup products are light and dark corn syrup. [10]

Uses

Corn syrup's major uses in commercially prepared foods are as a thickener, a sweetener, and a humectant (an ingredient that retains moisture and thus maintains a food's freshness). [11] The primary ingredient in most brands of commercial "pancake syrup" is either regular corn syrup or high-fructose corn syrup, both of which are less expensive than maple syrup. [12]

In the United States, tariff-rate quotas for cane sugar imports raise sugar prices; [13] hence, domestically produced corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup are less costly alternatives that are often used in American-made processed and mass-produced foods, candies, soft drinks, and fruit drinks. [11]

Glucose syrup was the primary corn sweetener in the United States prior to the expanded use of high fructose corn syrup production in 1964. [14] HFCS is a variant in which other enzymes are used to convert some of the glucose into fructose. [15] The resulting syrup is sweeter and more soluble.[ citation needed ]

If mixed with sugar, water, and cream of tartar, corn syrup can be used to make sugar glass. [16]

History

1917 Karo advertisement encouraging corn syrup as a wartime sugar substitute Karoadvert-1917.jpg
1917 Karo advertisement encouraging corn syrup as a wartime sugar substitute

Corn syrup was available at grocery stores in the 19th century, as a generic product sold from a barrel. [17] In 1902, the Corn Products Refining Company introduced clear, bottled corn syrup under the brand name of Karo Syrup. [17] In 1910, the company launched one of the largest advertising campaigns ever seen. This included full-page advertisements in women's magazines and free cookbooks full of recipes that called for Karo brand corn syrup. [17] In the 1930s, they promoted a new pecan pie recipe that featured corn syrup, followed by a similar, nut-free chess pie recipe, in a bid to drive sales. [17] Later, they promoted it as an alternative to maple syrup for waffles. [17] As cooking in the home declined in the 21st century, so that fewer people made candies or pies at home, commercial sales of Karo tended to dominate over the retail sales. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glucose</span> Naturally produced monosaccharide

Glucose is a sugar with the molecular formula C6H12O6. Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, using energy from sunlight, where it is used to make cellulose in cell walls, the most abundant carbohydrate in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Starch</span> Glucose polymer used as energy store in plants

Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets, and is contained in large amounts in staple foods such as wheat, potatoes, maize (corn), rice, and cassava (manioc).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sugar</span> Sweet-tasting, water-soluble carbohydrates

Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double sugars, are molecules made of two bonded monosaccharides; common examples are sucrose, lactose, and maltose. White sugar is a refined form of sucrose. In the body, compound sugars are hydrolysed into simple sugars.

A sweetener is a substance added to food or drink to impart the flavor of sweetness, either because it contains a type of sugar, or because it contains a sweet-tasting sugar substitute. Various natural non-sugar sweeteners and artificial sweeteners are used to produced food and drink.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fructose</span> Simple ketonic monosaccharide found in many plants

Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a ketonic simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorbed by the gut directly into the blood of the portal vein during digestion. The liver then converts both fructose and galactose into glucose, so that dissolved glucose, known as blood sugar, is the only monosaccharide present in circulating blood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amylase</span> Class of enzymes

An amylase is an enzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of starch into sugars. Amylase is present in the saliva of humans and some other mammals, where it begins the chemical process of digestion. Foods that contain large amounts of starch but little sugar, such as rice and potatoes, may acquire a slightly sweet taste as they are chewed because amylase degrades some of their starch into sugar. The pancreas and salivary gland make amylase to hydrolyse dietary starch into disaccharides and trisaccharides which are converted by other enzymes to glucose to supply the body with energy. Plants and some bacteria also produce amylase. Specific amylase proteins are designated by different Greek letters. All amylases are glycoside hydrolases and act on α-1,4-glycosidic bonds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maltose</span> Chemical compound

Maltose, also known as maltobiose or malt sugar, is a disaccharide formed from two units of glucose joined with an α(1→4) bond. In the isomer isomaltose, the two glucose molecules are joined with an α(1→6) bond. Maltose is the two-unit member of the amylose homologous series, the key structural motif of starch. When beta-amylase breaks down starch, it removes two glucose units at a time, producing maltose. An example of this reaction is found in germinating seeds, which is why it was named after malt. Unlike sucrose, it is a reducing sugar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maltase</span> Enzyme

Maltase is one type of alpha-glucosidase enzymes located in the brush border of the small intestine. This enzyme catalyzes the hydrolysis of disaccharide maltose into two simple sugars of glucose. Maltase is found in plants, bacteria, yeast, humans, and other vertebrates. It is thought to be synthesized by cells of the mucous membrane lining the intestinal wall.

<i>Mizuame</i> Japanese starch-based sweetener

Mizuame is a sweetener from Japan. A clear, thick, sticky liquid, it is made by converting starch to sugars. Mizuame is added to wagashi to give them a sheen, eaten in ways similar to honey, and can be a main ingredient in sweets. Some Mizuame are produced in a very similar fashion to corn syrup and are very similar in taste.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown rice syrup</span> Sweetener derived from rice

Brown rice (malt) syrup, also known as rice syrup or rice malt, is a sweetener which is rich in compounds categorized as sugars and is derived by steeping cooked rice starch with saccharifying enzymes to break down the starches, followed by straining off the liquid and reducing it by evaporative heating until the desired consistency is reached. The enzymes used in the saccharification step are supplied by an addition of sprouted barley grains to the rice starch or by adding bacterial- or fungal-derived purified enzyme isolates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-fructose corn syrup</span> Processed corn syrup

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also known as glucose–fructose, isoglucose and glucose–fructose syrup, is a sweetener made from corn starch. As in the production of conventional corn syrup, the starch is broken down into glucose by enzymes. To make HFCS, the corn syrup is further processed by D-xylose isomerase to convert some of its glucose into fructose. HFCS was first marketed in the early 1970s by the Clinton Corn Processing Company, together with the Japanese Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, where the enzyme was discovered in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glucose syrup</span> Syrup made from the hydrolysis of starch

Glucose syrup, also known as confectioner's glucose, is a syrup made from the hydrolysis of starch. Glucose is a sugar. Maize (corn) is commonly used as the source of the starch in the US, in which case the syrup is called "corn syrup", but glucose syrup is also made from potatoes and wheat, and less often from barley, rice and cassava.p. 21

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psicose</span> Chemical compound

D-Psicose (C6H12O6), also known as D-allulose, or simply allulose, is a low-calorie epimer of the monosaccharide sugar fructose, used by some major commercial food and beverage manufacturers as a low-calorie sweetener. First identified in wheat in the 1940s, allulose is naturally present in small quantities in certain foods.

Hydrogenated starch hydrolysates (HSHs), also known as polyglycitol syrup, are mixtures of several sugar alcohols. Hydrogenated starch hydrolysates were developed by the Swedish company Lyckeby Starch in the 1960s. The HSH family of polyols is an approved food ingredient in Canada, Japan, and Australia. HSH sweeteners provide 40 to 90% sweetness relative to table sugar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingredion</span> American ingredient manufacturer

Ingredion Incorporated is an American food and beverage ingredient provider based in Westchester, Illinois, producing mainly starches, non-GMO sweeteners, stevia, and pea protein. The company turns corn, tapioca, potatoes, plant-based stevia, grains, fruits, gums and other vegetables into ingredients for the food, beverage, brewing, and pharmaceutical industries and numerous industrial sectors. It has about 12,000 employees in 44 locations, and customers in excess of 120 countries.

Dextrose equivalent (DE) is a measure of the amount of reducing sugars present in a sugar product, expressed as a percentage on a dry basis relative to dextrose. The dextrose equivalent gives an indication of the average degree of polymerisation (DP) for starch sugars. As a rule of thumb, DE × DP = 120.

High-maltose corn syrup (HMCS) is a food additive used as a sweetener and preservative. The majority sugar is maltose. It is less sweet than high-fructose corn syrup and contains little to no fructose. It is sweet enough to be useful as a sweetener in commercial food production, however. To be given the label "high", the syrup must contain at least 50% maltose. Typically, it contains 40–50% maltose, though some have as high as 70%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xylose isomerase</span> Class of enzymes

In enzymology, a xylose isomerase is an enzyme that catalyzes the interconversion of D-xylose and D-xylulose. This enzyme belongs to the family of isomerases, specifically those intramolecular oxidoreductases interconverting aldoses and ketoses. The isomerase has now been observed in nearly a hundred species of bacteria. Xylose-isomerases are also commonly called fructose-isomerases due to their ability to interconvert glucose and fructose. The systematic name of this enzyme class is D-xylose aldose-ketose-isomerase. Other names in common use include D-xylose isomerase, D-xylose ketoisomerase, and D-xylose ketol-isomerase.

References

  1. ↑ Structure of the world starch market, European Commission - Directorate Agricultural and Rural development, Evaluation of the Community Policy for Starch and Starch Products, Final report 2002, Chapter 1, page 3
  2. ↑ "Sugar Association Alternative Carbohydrate Sweeteners". Archived from the original on 23 September 2006.
  3. ↑ Wheat starch, Application, International Starch Institute Denmark
  4. ↑ Global casave outlook; Guy Henry, Andrew Westby; 2007; page 600 Archived 5 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ "International Starch Association Starch and Glucose Glossary". Archived from the original on 16 July 2002.
  6. ↑ Martin Chaplin and Christopher Bucke, Enzyme Technology (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pages 146-154. Available on-line at: London South Bank University: Enzyme Technology. See "Chapter 4: The large-scale use of enzymes in solution", sections:
  7. ↑ "Dent corn" (Zea mays var. indentata) is so called because the tops of its kernels are slightly indented. See Merriam-Webster dictionary.
  8. ↑ "Enzymatic starch hydrolysis: background". Archived from the original on 4 October 2008.
  9. ↑ Trends in U.S. production and use of glucose syrup and dextrose, 1965-1990, and prospects for the future - U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Economic Research Service report
  10. ↑ "Karo Syrup - FAQ". Karo. ACH Food Companies, Inc. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  11. 1 2 Knehr, Elaine. "Carbohydrate Sweeteners". Food Product Design. Virgo Publishing. Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  12. ↑ "5 Things You Need to Know About Maple Syrup" . Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  13. ↑ "U.S. Sugar Import Program". USDA. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
  14. ↑ Fructose, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose and health. James M. Rippe. New York. 2014. ISBN   978-1-4899-8077-9. OCLC   876051670.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  15. ↑ Hobbs, Larry (2009). "Starch: Chemistry and Technology". In BeMiller, James; Whistler, Roy (eds.). Sweeteners from Starch: Production, Properties and Uses (PDF) (3rd ed.). Elsevier Inc. pp. 808–813. ISBN   978-0-12-746275-2 . Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  16. ↑ States, National Confectioners' Association of the United (1956). Annual Report - National Confectioners' Association of the United States.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Weinstein, Jay (2007). "Karo Syrup". In Smith, Andrew F. (ed.). The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 339. ISBN   978-0-19-530796-2. OCLC   71833329.
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