Dried corn syrup is essentially corn syrup that has been dried to remove the water, resulting in a solid or powdered form.
The name describes the structure of the molecule.
- Dried. This term indicates that the product has been deprived of water through a drying process.
- Corn. Refers to maize, a cereal plant commonly grown in many parts of the world.
- Syrup. It's a thick, viscous liquid containing a large amount of sugar dissolved in water.
Description of raw materials used in production.
- The main raw materials for the production of dried corn syrup are corn, from which starch is extracted, and enzymes needed to break down the starch into simple sugars.
Step-by-step summary of its industrial production process.
- Corn is ground and processed to extract the starch.
- The extracted starch is then hydrolyzed using enzymes such as amylase to break down the glucose chains and produce a liquid syrup.
- This liquid syrup is then dried through various methods like spray or roller drying to produce a corn syrup powder.
Dried corn syrup appears as a white or yellowish powder.
Commercial applications.
Dried corn syrup is widely used in the food industry as a sweetener, binder, and structure agent. It's common in baked goods, candies, ice creams, sauces, and many other food products.
Safety
Corn contains amounts of glucose and fructose.
Excessive fructose consumption has been linked, at least partially, to greater adiposity and metabolic disorders compared to other sugars that seem to be particularly important during critical periods of growth and infant development (1).
References___________________________________________________________________
(1) Prasanthi Jegatheesan and Jean-Pascal De Bandt.
Fructose and NAFLD: The Multifaceted Aspects of Fructose Metabolism
Nutrients 2017, 9(3), 230; doi:10.3390/nu9030230