Polysaccharides, which include starch and
cellulose, are sugar polymers, or molecules
composed of numerous individual sugar units,
as many as several thousand. Usually only one
or a very few kinds of sugars are found in a
given polysaccharide. Polysaccharides are
classified according to the overall
characteristics of the large molecules: a
general size range, an average composition,
and a common set of properties. Like the
sugars of which they’re composed,
polysaccharides contain many exposed
oxygen and hydrogen atoms, so they can form
hydrogen bonds and absorb water. However,
they may or may not dissolve in water,
depending on the attractive forces among the
polymers themselves.
Starch By far the most important
polysaccharide for the cook is starch, the
compact, unreactive polymer in which plants