Sucrose and sugar

Sucrose is a basic carbohydrate and has occupied a central position in human food for centuries. Sugar contributes to the pleasant taste and physical structure of many foods.

Sucrose is the scientific name for table sugar. It is a composite molecule mad of one molecule each of glucose and fructose.

Sucrose is known under many trade and popular names. This may may be related to its purity grade to its extent of granulation or crystal size and to its use.

All sugars are members of the larger group of compounds called carbohydrates and are characterized by a sweet taste.

The sucrose available in the markets as sugar has been extracted from sugar cane or sugar beet, but sucrose is also abundant in most plant materials , particularly fruit.

Sugar, in its pure state it is normally available as white crystals, but it can also be bought as liquid sugar, which is a solution in water.

Impure sucrose, crystals with coatings of syrup which are dark in color, are known as ‘brown sugar’.

Sucrose is a disaccharides and a non reducing sugar.

When a solution of sucrose is heated in the presence of some acid, it breaks apart into its tow sugars. Certain sucrose into glucose and fructose is often referred it as’ inversion’ and the resulting mixture is called ‘invert sugar’ or ‘invert syrup.’

Sucrose is more soluble than glucose and less soluble than fructose. In its dried, granular form, sugar become increasingly soluble in water with an increase in temperature.

Sugar may precipitate from solution, forming an undesirable grainy, crystalline product.
Sucrose and sugar