special sense designed specifically to detect
them. Sugars taste sweet, and sweetness is a
nearly universal source of pleasure. It’s the
essence of the dishes we serve at the end of
the meal, as well as of candies and
confections. Sugars and their properties are
described in detail in chapter 12.
Oligosaccharides
The oligosaccharides (“several-unit sugars”)
raffinose, stachyose, and verbascose are 3-, 4-,
and 5-ring sugars, respectively, all too large to
trigger our sweet detectors, so they’re
tasteless. They’re commonly found in the
seeds and other organs of plants, where they
make up part of the energy supply. These
sugars all affect our digestive system, thanks
to the fact that we don’t have digestive
enzymes capable of breaking them down into
single sugars that can be absorbed by the
intestine. As a result, the oligosaccharides are