Sugar Science 101: Why is Sugar Important in Food Industry?

With the increasing awareness among consumers about nutrition and healthy diet, a lot of people have started to see sugar as a devil, but if you ask me, I’ll say it is like an angel in disguise. If I randomly ask you about what is the role of sugar in food, it is highly probable that you’ll say sugar makes food taste sweet. While sugar is primarily known as a sweetener, you cannot put it in a box.  Sugar is like an Indian movie star; it is versatile. For those of you who are not familiar with Indian movies or actors, I would tell you that the actors in India are not just actors; they are dancers, entrepreneurs, marketers and sometimes singers too. Similarly, sugar is a multi-talented ingredient in the realm of food. Here are a few of the other talents sugar has.

It can balance flavours.

Aside from increasing sweetness, sugar is also used to enhance, lessen or balance the flavour of ingredients naturally present in food. It contributes to the flavour profile by interacting with other ingredients and components in the food. Add sugar to your jam or fruit juices, along with citric acid, and it’ll help you attain a balance between sourness and sweetness. Or take the example of chocolate. Sugar, when added to a chocolate recipe, balances the bitterness of cocoa.

It can give birth to new colours and flavours.

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

Do you know what gives bread, cookies and kulfi their unique colour and flavour? Caramelization and Maillard Reactions.

Caramelization is a reaction that occurs when sugars (like sucrose a.k.a table sugar) are heated above the melting point and made to react with water. This causes sugars molecules to break down and they transform into a brown and bittersweet product, known as caramel. It is used in various products like sauces, candies, and other confectionery items. 

Maillard reaction, on the other hand, requires proteins & application of heat along with sugar to take place. Under the right conditions, in this process, the protein and sugar molecules react together and give birth to brown colour and new flavouring compounds in the food. You can observe this happening next time you make kulfi at your home or bake bread.

Even though these reactions are different on the molecular level, it is important to know that both of them are not mutually exclusive. Both of them can take place at the same time, in the same food item.

It makes your favourite comfort foods lightweight. 

When you mix sugar with other ingredients like white flour, in a cake or a muffin batter, it competes with protein molecules for liquid ingredients (such as water, milk, etc) and thus tries to prevent the over-development of gluten. Over-development of gluten can make baked good tough; so when you add sugar to the batter, it binds itself with water molecules and controls the gluten development.

Also, when we mix sugar with all the other ingredients in the batter, the sugar crystals cut into the mixture and create lots and lots of small air bubbles to lighten the batter. Once this batter is placed in the oven, these air cells expand due to the gases generated by baking soda and baking powder and cause the cake to lift and rise. Hence, cakes and muffins feel so light.

Sugar can save lives.

While sugars may not be good for human health, they can save the lives of various food products like barfi, jams, jellies, fruits syrups, baked goods, etc.

Sugar is a hygroscopic ingredient, meaning that it loves to attract and bind with water molecules. A lot of spoilage causing microorganisms need water to exist and function. So, when you place food in concentrated sugar syrup, sugar tends to draw out water from the food and microorganisms, dehydrates them so that microbes can not survive and spoil the food. Hence, sugar helps to kill these life-sucking micro-organisms and extend the shelf-life of food items.

It aids in fermentation.

Curd, bread and beer are few of the most common examples of fermented food. While microorganisms such as LAB (lactic acid bacteria), yeasts do play a major role in the fermentation, these organisms can not do this without the help of sugar. In such fermented foods, these micro-organisms feed on sugars present in the food and as a result, produce new compounds and flavours.