BPA225 Chocolate and Confectionary Artistry

Functions of Sugar in Confectionery

Veronica Ramos
 Functions of Sugar in Confectionery

Sugar comes in many varieties and each one has a different purpose in cooking, baking

and even making candies or chocolates. In confectionary, there is a plethora of productions that

can be made using sugar. Since there are so many varieties of sugar, we need to know which

ones to use for certain desired outcomes. Only a few types of sugar are used in confections.

These are known as sucrose, which is another word for regular granulated sugar, molasses,

brown sugar, confectioners sugar, invert sugar, glucose, honey and maple.

Sucrose is the most common form of sugar used in confectionery. It can be used as a

stabilizer, to add sweetness, texture, flavor, color, to increase volume and used for its keeping

qualities. Sucrose typically comes as granulated sugar but can also be found as a liquid. Liquid

sugar is sugar that has been dissolved in water and it is easier to handle in larger quantities.

Sucrose tends to crystallize, so in confectionery, it is usually combined with another type of

sugar. Sucrose also comes in two types, amorphous and crystalline. Amorphous is high in

hygroscopicity, or tendency to absorb moisture from the air, reduces water activity, hold fat in

emulsions, dissolves quickly in the mouth, chemically reactive and releases flavor rapidly.

Crystalline has low hygroscopicity, little water activity, expels fat, dissolves slowly in the mouth,

does not chemically reactivate, and it releases flow slowly.

A by product from refining sugar is called molasses. Molasses is a thick, brown syrup

that is used with sugar or by itself in confections. It is used mainly for its flavor but also for it’s

doctoring properties. Molasses browns quickly and increases hygroscopicity of the product. It

comes in a variety of colors ranging from light brown to dark brown. The darker the color, the

more prominent flavor. Another product that is produced during the refining process of sugar is

brown sugar. Brown sugar is refined sugar that has molasses added back into the sugar after they
are been separated. Adding the molasses back to the sugar increases the sugar’s hygroscopicity,

changes the flavor, and increases its ability to brown when heated. Like molasses, brown sugar

comes in different shades of brown. Most commonly seen are light brown and dark brown sugar.

Confectioners sugar is known by several names, such as, powdered sugar, icing sugar, 6x,

or 10x sugar. Confectioners sugar is finely ground sugar mixed with 3% cornstarch to prevent

clumping. This sugar is used for icing, frosting, and dusting; and comes in two grades: 6x and

10x. The difference between the two is that 10x sugar is finer ground than 6x. It dissolves

quickly and creates a very smooth texture in the product it is used in.

Invert sugar is made by splitting the sucrose into two components known as fructose and

dextrose. These two components are used in equal parts to make up the invert sugar. Invert sugar

is used in conjunction with sugar in confections to help prevent crystallization. It is also used for

its sweetness because it is sweeter than sucrose. It is more hydroscopic than sucrose and browns

faster as well. Adding inverted sugar to regular sugar will increase the dissolved-solids content,

lower water activity, and extend the shelf life of a product.

Glucose is another product that is used with sugar to control crystallization. It is also used

to balance sweetness. Glucose is made from an edible starch and is combined with water to

create a thick syrup. In the United States, it is made from cornstarch and in Europe it is made

from wheat or potato starch. It is graded by how much starch has been broken down into the

syrup and is shown by a “DE”, which means dextrose equivalent, and a number ranging from 0

to 100. A high DE glucose will be sweeter, more hygroscopic, less viscous and will brown faster.

A low DE glucose will be more viscous, have a fuller flavor and is a better doctoring agent. The

most common grade for use in confections is around DE 42. There are two specialty glucose

names high-fructose and high-maltose. High-maltose is better known to confections because of

its ability to resist browning at high temperatures, making it ideal for hard candy. It has low

viscosity when hot so it is easy to work with and it’s low hygroscopicity can protect finished

product from humidity damage.

Lastly, there is honey and maple. Honey resembles invert sugar because it is made up of

both fructose and dextrose. It is used mainly for flavor and its ability to brown quickly. As most

know, bees make honey by gather the pollen from flowers and storing it inside honeycombs. The

flavor and color of honey depends on where the bees gather the pollen from. Maple is a syrup

that is created by concentrating the sap from sugar maple, also known as a black maple, trees. It

is boiled until the water has been reduced enough to have at least 66% dissolved solids. Maple is

also used mainly for its flavor and for its ability to not crystallize easily. Other than syrup, maple

is made into maple sugar. This is accomplished by removing most of the water from the tree sap

and inducing crystallizations. The flavor of maple syrup or sugar is based on the climate, soil and

time of season that the sap is harvested. High quality maple is light in color and flavor, but

confectioners typically use low grade maple which is darker with a robust flavor because of its

color and flavor.

In conclusion, knowing what the function of each type of sugar and how they are made

can help decide which should be used. Using sugars that brown easily can be helpful when

making caramels or toffee. Most are used to help prevent crystallization which is important for

making high quality products. Consideration for flavor and color are also needed when choosing

which sugars to be used.

 References

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Confectionery. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2019, from https://www.nordicsugar.com/industry/on-a-

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Function of Sugar in Baking and Varieties of Sugar. (2018, May 11). Retrieved March 26, 2019,

from https://bakerbettie.com/function-of-sugar-in-baking/

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https://www.ecolechocolat.com/blog/exploring-sugars-part-one/