High Fructose Corn Syrup vs. Sugar
July 10th, 2008
High fructose corn syrup has gotten a lot of bad press this year. There are two major types of corn syrup, regular corn syrup (glucose) and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Both are sweeteners derived from corn. The difference is that HFCS has undergone a special process that converts the glucose in corn syrup to fructose.
To sweeten a liquid product using only sugar can be a challenge. Remember that school science project where you added sugar to water? For a while after the sugar is mixed into the water it stays suspended in solution. However, adding too much sugar can cause crystals to form.
You can only make a product so sweet using sugar. If all of the available liquid is saturated with a number of the different sugars used in syrup, chances are that one of them is going to crystallize. So liquid sugar in the form of corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup helps solve that problem.
HFCS, commonly found in soft drinks and a large number of food products, has recently been blamed for contributing to the obesity epidemic in this country. The science is still being debated, however.
So even though the science is unclear, high fructose corn syrup is used in many products because of its unique properties. At Mont Blanc, we are always looking for the best tasting and most effective products. We have already tested cane sugar, beet sugar, regular corn syrup, and even agave nectar. So my search continues.
Chocolatier Michael Szyliowicz is an innovator who crafts quality syrups in his Denver lab. Michael's adventurous spirit takes him around the globe in search of trends and best practices. He shares his musings, observations and experiences.
Hi, Michael:
I don’t know if you know that, in the 1970’s, I was the General Manager of the Good Earth Restaurant, a chain of five, made-from-scratch, three-meal, “Natural Food” eateries. Our tea line of Good Earth Teas is still in the marketplace. It’s now owned by Tetley (Tata). Anyway…at the time, we had the largest Natural Foods Bakery/Commisary on the West Coast. One of the items that we baked was a Giant Carob Chip Cookie. As an experiment, we tried making and testing two different recipes. They were the same, with the exception of the sweetener. One contained 100% cane sugar and one contained100% beet sugar. When offered blind samples of both cookies (they appeared identical, visually), more than 80% of the samplers picked the cookie made with cane sugar as their favorite. We could never expain the “how” of it, since, in theory, they are both crystalline sucrose.
Comment by Kim Moore — September 2, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
Kim,
I was interested in your response because it does point to the very subtle differences similar ingredients can make. We taste test every product that we make, and in our lab are always surprised how different identical formulations taste when there is only one different ingredient such as a sweetener, cocoa powder, or vanilla from a different supplier. At the end of the day, we end up choosing what we think offers the best balance of taste among all of the different flavors. Thanks for the comment, and it was great hearing from you!
Comment by Michael — September 8, 2008 @ 5:04 pm