Inverted sugar is a liquid syrup made of granular sugar and water. It is produced by mixing sucrose with water and heating until the bond between glucose and fructose breaks.

This process is called hydrolysis and produces a thick sweet syrup. When using common edible sugar (called sucrose), glucose and fructose are two different sugar molecules, but hydrolysis can separate the molecules, thus reducing the glucose content and fructose content of sweetener by half.

Other names

The name invert sugar comes from the way syrup sweeteners reflect polarized light. Compared with the way polarized light shines on sucrose, when light shines on invert sugar, it rotates in the opposite direction.

Inverted sugar has several other names, including:

Inverted syrup

Pour syrup

Pour syrup

Inverted maple syrup

Artificial honey

All these terms are used to describe a sugar-containing substance, which has the same nutritional composition as edible sugar, but has undergone a process of making it more soluble.

Uses/cooking benefits

Reverse syrup has a thick and smooth texture. It is used in sweets, drinks and commodities that need to maintain smoothness.

The following is a classification of how and why it is used for cooking and production purposes:

Sweetener for beverages: Inverted syrup is usually used for sweet iced coffee, iced tea, frozen cocktails, etc. Because it dissolves in cold drinks. It is also used for flavoring syrup commonly used in coffee shops.

Sweetener for food and candy: used for food and candy, including ice cream, soft candy, chocolate cream, toffee, biscuits and cakes.

Improve texture: Pour syrup to improve the texture and moisture of baked goods. Will not crystallize, baking with edible sugar may crystallize.

Fermentation tank: Inverted sugar is used to ferment tea fungus, beer and other products. The research shows that the converted sugar is glucose which is preferentially fermented.

Potential anti-deterioration ability is higher: products containing invert sugar may be more resistant to microbial growth, but more research is needed to draw a conclusion.

nutritional ingredient

In nutrition, invert sugar is almost the same as edible sugar. They do have different chemical and structural characteristics. You can find two kinds of invert sugar in the market.

50% invert syrup consists of half sucrose (edible sugar) and the other half converted glucose and fructose. 100% invert syrup consists entirely of invert glucose and fructose.

The United States Department of Agriculture reported that a spoonful of syrup contains about:

46 calories

1 1.8 g carbohydrate

11.8g of sugar

Zero protein

Zero fat

Zero fiber