Sweet as honey

Author: Zhang Enlai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: Sweetness plays a role in seasoning, especially in southern China, where it is a major flavor in dishes. Sweetness can enhance the freshness of dishes and has a unique harmonizing effect on flavors. The sweet substances in food are mainly carbohydrates, including monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. Monosaccharides have the simplest molecular structure, such as glucose and mannose; disaccharides are called disaccharides, such as sucrose, maltose, and lactose, which cannot be directly absorbed by the human body and must be hydrolyzed by acid and enzymes into monosaccharides before absorption. Disaccharides are the most widely used in daily cooking, with the most common being white sugar. Polysaccharides are formed by combining multiple monosaccharide molecules after dehydration, such as starch, plant fiber, and animal starch. Sugars and sweet foods have functions for the human body, such as providing energy, constituting tissues, protecting the liver, promoting digestion, and enhancing appetite. However, research has found that excessive intake of sweet foods can lead to excess energy intake, causing obesity and affecting health. Additionally, diabetics must also control their carbohydrate intake, so people have sought many sugar substitutes that provide sweetness but do not provide energy to the human body. These sweeteners can be divided into two categories: one is artificially synthesized, such as saccharin, sugar alcohols, and aspartame; the other is extracted from plants, such as stevioside and glycyrrhizin, which are widely used in the food industry. In cooking, the commonly used sweet seasonings mainly include white sugar, rock sugar, malt syrup, brown sugar, honey, and various fruit jams.