Why Can Fructose Syrup Become the Preferred Sweetener for Tea Drinks?

Due to the rising cost of sucrose in the food industry, and the mature production process of fructose syrup and relatively low production cost, using fructose syrup to replace or partially replace sucrose has become the choice of many large companies including Coca-Cola and Pepsi to control costs. The use of fructose syrup in global beverage production has reached 75%, especially in the ready-made tea industry. Fructose syrup has long become the first choice and the largest beverage sweetener in mainstream tea stores. But as syrups, why are glucose syrup and maltose syrup not widely used in tea production? What is the difference between the three? This blog will talk about the differences.

Speaking of fructose syrup, glucose syrup, and maltose syrup, we have to talk about "starch syrup".

Starch syrup is one of the important sweeteners in the food industry besides sucrose. The advantages of starch syrup are: milder sweetness, good viscosity and moisture retention, and at the same time, it has a lower price and mature technology, which makes it extremely widely used. Starch is produced into three types of syrups containing different proportions of monosaccharides, disaccharides and oligosaccharides: fructose syrup, glucose syrup and maltose syrup according to the degree of hydrolysis. Although all three syrups can be used as sweeteners, their application fields are different due to their different physical properties.

Characteristics and applications of fructose syrup.

According to the difference in ingredients, fructose syrup is mainly divided into F42, F55, F60 and other types. In the ready-made tea beverage industry, the amount of F60 is very large.

1. The cold sweetness of fructose syrup is obvious:

Cold sweetness is the main advantage of fructose syrup compared with the other two types of syrups. Under 40 degrees, the lower the temperature, the higher the sweetness, which can reach up to 1.73 times that of sucrose. Due to this characteristic, fructose syrup is extremely suitable for cold drinks.

The fructose content in fructose syrup is rich, which makes it have a fruity fragrance and a cool taste;

The combination of fructose syrup and sucrose can increase the sweetness by 20-30%, and the sweetness is full and the flavor is better.

2. High solubility of fructose corn syrup:

The solubility is the highest among sugars. At temperatures of 20℃, 30℃, 40℃, and 50℃, the solubility of fructose syrup is 1.88 times, 2.0 times, 2.3 times, and 3.1 times that of sucrose, respectively (the solubility of glucose syrup is lower than that of sucrose).

3. Can reduce the freezing point of cold drinks:

Since fructose syrup contains a large amount of fructose and glucose, and fructose and glucose have a small molecular weight compared to sucrose, their ability to reduce the freezing point is stronger than that of white sugar.

4. Good stability in acidic environment:

Fructose corn syrup is relatively stable in an acidic environment. Glucose and fructose are both monosaccharides with a relatively stable pH value. Glucose is most stable at pH 3.0, and fructose is most stable at pH 3.3, so fructose syrup is relatively stable in some acidic foods.

Note: Due to a series of characteristics of fructose syrup, especially the effect of lowering the freezing point, when making ice cream and popsicles that require freezing and puffing, try to use less or no fructose syrup to avoid slowing down the freezing speed of the product, poor freezing conditions, poor resistance to melting and high loss rate in the sales process.

Characteristics and application of glucose syrup.

Because the sweetness of glucose syrup is about 0.4-0.5 times that of sucrose, the sweetness is milder. In candy manufacturing, it can present a pleasant sweetness. The hygroscopicity of glucose is lower than that of sucrose. In candy manufacturing, it can prevent candy from absorbing moisture and melting, prolonging the storage and flavor. In addition, glucose syrup contains dextrin, which can increase the toughness and strength of candy, make candy not easy to break, and dilute the sweetness of candy.

Characteristics and application of maltose syrup.

Maltose syrup has good heat resistance and high boiling temperature, which makes the produced candy light in color and good in transparency. And because of the low hygroscopicity, excellent water retention and good fluidity of maltose syrup, it can maintain the appropriate moisture of candy and avoid being too hard or too soft. In the candy industry, maltose syrup is better than glucose syrup.

Maltose syrup is widely used in crispy biscuits and even plays a decisive role in the quality of biscuits. In particular, high maltose syrup, which is the most widely used, can make biscuits taste crisp, fragrant, crisp and sweet, and is not easy to absorb moisture and re-moisture, thus extending the shelf life.

Maltose syrup has good fermentation ability, low sweetness and mellow taste. Maltose syrup used as an auxiliary material for beer brewing can simplify the production process, increase production capacity, optimize production costs, and also improve the stability and freshness of beer flavor.