SUGARS "Consuming sugar or sugars is one of life's little pleasures that can be safely enjoyed in moderation. "Professor Gérard Debry Definition The little story of sugar Introduction ː Sugar Sugar as food The different types of sugars 1) The main types of simple sugars Glucose Fructose Galactose Sucrose Lactose Maltose 2) Simple natural sugars from sugar cane Blond cane sugar Brown sugar (brown sugar) Rapadura Molasses Demerara Muscovado 3) Simple natural sugars from sugar beet White granulated sugar Brown sugar (brown sugar) La vergeoise wholemeal sugar 4) Other simple natural sugars from fruits, flowers and plants Corn syrup Malt / Barley syrup Rice syrup Sorghum syrup Carob molasses Mesquite Syrup Palm Sugar Agave Syrup Maple Syrup Birch Syrup Yacon syrup Date syrup Coconut sugar Date sugar Grape sugar Concentrated Fruit Sugar Fructose Sugar Honey 5)Simple sugar derivatives Caramel Glucose-fructose syrup Isoglucose Icing sugar Invert sugar Golden syrup Turbine sugar / turbinado The dextrose The dextrin Maltodextrin Candy sugar 6)Other sweetening products - sweetener Polyol Stevioside 6a)Natural sweeteners from fruits, flowers and plants Xylitol Stevia Erythritol Intense sweeteners, which are naturally sweetening proteins thaumatin monellin miraculin brazein and pentadine Curculin Mabinline Lysozyne Turmeric xanthorrhiza 7) Chemical or synthetic sweeteners Aspartame neotame acesulfame saccharin Cyclamates alitame sucralose Technological functions of sugars and other sweeteners Sugar pleasure and influence on eating behaviour World Sugar Consumption and Production Translations of SUGAR sugar and sugars Page 1 of 27 Sugar Definition Sugar is a sweet-flavoured substance extracted mainly from sugar cane and sugar beet. Sugar is a molecule of sucrose (glucose + fructose). It is also possible to obtain sugar from other plants. Sugar or sucrose is a carbohydrate found naturally in fruits and vegetables. It is produced by all plants during photosynthesis, a natural process that converts sunlight into energy. Sugar is the generic name used for all sweet-tasting soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in foods. A distinction is made between simple sugars (or monosaccharides because they are made up of a single short molecule, called ose), namely glucose, fructose and galactose, and double sugars (disaccharides) formed by the bonding of two monosaccharides: sucrose (glucose + fructose), lactose (glucose + galactose), maltose (two molecules of glucose). In our body, these compound sugars are hydrolysed into simple sugars. White table sugar (lump or powder) is sucrose. Bones can also form much longer chains, but these, called oligosaccharides or polysaccharides, are not considered sugars. Sugars are found naturally in the tissues of most plants and their derivatives: honey and fruit are abundant sources of simple sugars, while sugar cane or sugar beet are rich in sucrose, hence their industrial and commercial use to produce table sugar. Sugar, which in the days of Louis XVI was found only in apothecaries, gave rise to various lucrative professions, such as pastry cooks, confectioners, liquorists and other sweetsellers. - (Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste, 1844). Sugar was known to the ancients, who used it only in very small quantities and as a medicine; only 200 years ago it was sold only by pharmacists, at a very high price. It has become such a large part of our diet today that it can be considered a staple food. - (Edmond NIVOIT, E. Jolly, Charleville, 1869). Animal, vegetable, mineral and synthetic origins of sugars In addition to honey and fruits (such as apples), which have been used as a carbohydrate supplement since ancient times, various plants contain large quantities of sugars and are used as raw materials from which these sugars are extracted, often in the form of syrup: - American agave from which agave syrup is extracted; - sugar beet; - sugar cane; - coconut palm: some Austronesians, like the Gilbertins, extract the sap and make syrup from it; - maple: (sugar and maple syrup); - date palm: (palm sugar and syrup from the sap, date sugar and syrup from the fruit); - sugar palms like the coconut palm in Chile make palm syrup; - flowering plants whose nectar is processed into honey by bees; - Common sorghum with which sorghum syrup is made (a composition similar to glucose syrup from corn starch). - Sugar squash from Brazil. The sugars have a flavour that has been said to be one of the four basic flavours (sweet, salty, bitter, sour). sugar and sugars Page 2 of 27 Cognitively and neurologically, sweet flavours seem to indicate to primates, human or non-human, the energy value of plants, hence the pleasure associated with it. Man's first food is slightly sweet (lactose). Most toxic plants are bitter, so choosing a sweet food would be safe. Finally, sweetness is associated with the notion of pleasure. And it is the only fundamental flavour that does not provoke a rejection reaction from babies. In all civilizations, sweet foods are part of the festive ritual and convey a sense of trust and peace. On the sweetness scale, sucrose is the standard. Its sweetness is equal to 100. For an equivalent mass, other sugars have either a lower sweetening power (such as glucose, maltose, lactose...) or a higher one (such as fructose, invert sugar...). Compared to sweeteners, sugar has an additional power: it is a flavour enhancer, which increases the flavour of the other ingredients. This effect is non-existent with sweeteners. Among the molecules of natural origin we find amino acids (glycine), proteins (thaumatin, mabinline), heterosides (steviosides), etc. Synthetic molecules include dipeptides (aspartame), sulphamates (acesulfame potassium), etc. Properties of sugar in food Its roles are varied, sugar can develop different tastes: sweet, of course, but also bitter. Other roles are less known to the general public, but exploited by the professional. 1) Sugar is fermentable, i.e. it is consumed by the yeast in leavened dough. The decomposition of sucrose by the yeast causes the release of carbon dioxide and alcohol. Sugar therefore helps the fermentation process. 2) Sugar is a preservative because it binds water around it. It is said to have hygroscopic power. Thus each sugar molecule is capable of fixing six molecules of water. Once fixed, the water is no longer free. So microbes will no longer be able to use it to grow. Sugar is said to be a depressant of water activity. 3) It is a plasticity agent. By fixing part of the water in a paste, sugar helps to increase its viscosity. 4)It is also a depressant of the freezing temperature. In the presence of sugar, water no longer crystallizes at 0°C, but at -2 -3°C. This role is for example interesting in ice-cream making. 5)Moreover, sugar brings brittleness and crispness to biscuits. This gives the baked product crumbliness. 6)Finally, thanks to the caramelisation reaction, sugar has a colouring role. ETYMOLOGY a ,( ُس َّك ٌر) "The term "sugar" comes from the Italian term "zucchero", itself borrowed from the Arabic "sukkar word of Indian origin, in Sanskrit "çârkara" (meaning "gravel" or "sand"). Walloon, souk; bourguig. seucre; provenç. sucre; portug. açucar; ital. succhero; lat. saccharum, Greek; from the Persian shakara, pracrit, sakkara, which comes from the Sanskrit Çarkara, sugar, originally meaning grains of sand, because the sugar was in grains (brown sugar) (çarkara comes from çri, broken into pieces). It can be assumed that the Arabic form sukkar was not alien to the conversion of a from saccharum to u in all modern languages. sugar and sugars Page 3 of 27 The little story of sugar Man has been using sweeteners since the dawn of time: a cave painting about 14,000 years old, discovered in Spain in the cuevas de la Araña (Caves of the Spider, in the province of Valencia) shows a character collecting honey, surrounded by bees. Known since time immemorial, honey was for a long time the only sweetener used. Sugar cane, originally from New Guinea, migrated very early to Southwest Asia and aroused great interest among the people who discovered it. During Antiquity and the Middle Ages, sugar was a rare and expensive commodity, just like other spices such as saffron or nutmeg. The preference for the sweet taste is apparent from very early on, right from birth. Sweetness is associated with "pleasure" and "safety". This perception has its origin in early childhood and more precisely in breastfeeding, as breast milk has a sweet taste (canned infant milk is also sweet...). There is a concrete kind of honey called sugar {saccharon}, which is found in reeds in India and Happy Arabia. It resembles salt in its consistency and cracks under the tooth. Dioscoride, 1st century 10,000 or 6,000 B.C. Sugar cane is cultivated in Papua New Guinea, where it was already growing. Sugar cane cultivation then spread to India and China. In fact, it was in India that chemical refining of sugar cane began. 325 B.C. Nearch, the admiral of Alexander the Great, during an expedition to India, mentions a "reed giving honey without the help of bees". In India, sugar would have been purified and crystallized during the Gupta dynasty around the year 350. 600 The Arab conquests brought sugar to the Mediterranean basin. It arrives in France, Italy and the Mediterranean islands. In France and England, sugar was long considered a rare spice, reserved for the nobility. 1453 With the capture of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and the closure of the Black Sea by the Turks, the eastern trade routes were cut off. The Europeans had to find new ways of obtaining supplies of sugar. An exotic and rare product, it was first reserved for apothecaries and the elite, where it was used as a currency, spice and medicine until the 17th century, only becoming a real ingredient in cooking in the 18th century. 1493 Navigator Christopher Columbus introduced sugar cane to the West Indies.