26 Key Takeaways

Key Takeaways

• Sugar comes from a variety of sources. Our primary sugar, sucrose, comes from two sources: sugar cane and sugar beet, but both these sugars are chemically identical.
• As a food item, sugars are classed as carbohydrates, being formed from carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms.
• There are three types of sugar, two of which are most important in their applications for the baker: monosaccharides (simple sugars) and disaccharides (complex sugars).
• Simple sugars comprise glucose (also known as dextrose), levulose, and galactose.
• Complex sugars comprise sucrose (our regular sugar), maltose, and lactose.
• Glucose is the same as dextrose, and fructose is the same as levulose.
• Relative sweetness varies among the different sugar types, from low as in lactose, to high as in levulose.
• Sugar has a wide range of applications in baking.