qualities.
Glucose Glucose, also called dextrose, is a
simple sugar, and the most common sugar
from which living cells directly extract
chemical energy. Glucose is found in many
fruits and in honey, but always in a mixture
with other sugars. It’s the building block from
which starch chains are constructed. Cooks
encounter it most often as the sweet substance
in corn syrup, which is made by breaking
starch down into individual glucose molecules
and small glucose chains (p. 677). A chain of
two glucoses is called maltose. Compared to
table sugar, or sucrose, glucose is less sweet,
less soluble in water, and produces a thinner
solution. It melts and begins to caramelize at
around 300ºF/150ºC.
Sweets Around the World
Sugar is universally popular, but different
cultures have made different uses of it.