mmm@weitek.UUCP (Mark Thorson) (09/22/85)
Mr. Gould is incorrect. Honey is not a sucrose syrup. Honey is mostly a syrup of invert sugars (broken down complex sugars, monosaccharides as opposed to disaccharides like sucrose). It also has a raft of other stuff, like pollen, bacterial and fungal spores (so DON'T feed it to baby), various bee juices, etc. Honey is preserved by its dryness (high osmotic pressure) and bee enzymes. Yeast will grow in honey with a moisture content above 17%, but not much else will. Honey absorbs water from the air (hygroscopic), so keep the jar covered. In sealed jars it retains its wholesomeness virtually forever. As an aside on sugars: the terms glucose, fructose, dextrose, and levulose are often confused. Glucose and fructose are the common names of particular chemicals. Dextrose and levulose are terms used to describe mixtures of sugars which rotate polarized light to the right and left, respectively. A dextrose will usually be rich in glucose and a levulose will usually be rich in fructose, as these are the most common types of simple sugars. But the term glucose should not be used interchangably with dextrose nor fructose with levulose. Mark Thorson (...!cae780!weitek!mmm)
jerem@tekgvs.UUCP (Jere Marrs) (09/24/85)
In <272@weitek.UUCP> Mark Thorson writes:
<As an aside on sugars: the terms glucose, fructose, dextrose, and levulose
<are often confused. Glucose and fructose are the common names of particular
<chemicals. Dextrose and levulose are terms used to describe mixtures of
<sugars which rotate polarized light to the right and left, respectively.
<A dextrose will usually be rich in glucose and a levulose will usually be
<rich in fructose, as these are the most common types of simple sugars. But
<the term glucose should not be used interchangably with dextrose nor fructose
<with levulose.
<
<Mark Thorson (...!cae780!weitek!mmm)
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The history and lore of this terminology dates back to the early days
of chemistry.
When sucrose is dissolved in water it rotates the plane of polarization
of polarized light ( I forget which way ). As the sucrose hydrolyzes into its
monosaccharides glucose and fructose, the direction of the rotation inverts.
The rotation now is due to the sum of the rotatory powers of the glucose and
fructose which, in equimolar concentration, is opposite to that of sucrose.
The name 'invert sugar' derives its name from this process although the
colloquial use of the term is as Mark described in his article.
Apparently the dextrorotatory form of glucose is called dextrose and
the levorotatory form of fructose (an alpha-keto-hexose) is called levulose.
The use of "high fructose sugars" so heavily advertised on the
cans of soft drinks and such are there because of economics. Sugars derived
from corn are a great deal less expensive than sugars derived from beets or
sugar cane (sucrose). Corn sugars are rich in fructose. Also, fructose has
more sweet per calorie than sucrose and can be used with less net caloric
content.
There is an excellent book available that discusses this and many
other aspects of cooking from a scientific point of view. It is not a book
for the food faddists (foodists?) as it tells the scientific truth without
any sugar coating (note humor). It is "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee,
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1984, 684pp. $29.95. A Bargain! I strongly
recommend it to cooks with some knowledge of physical science. The subtitle
is "The Science and Lore of the Kitchen."
Jere M. Marrs
Tektronix, Inc.
Beaverton, Oregon
tektronix!tekcrl!tekgvs!jerem
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