In Foods
High fructose corn syrup, or corn sugar*, is a liquid sweetener alternative to sugar. Its introduction into the food supply was intended to overcome periodic shortages in sugar availability and resulting price increases (as is the case now). High fructose corn syrup is a versatile ingredient that adds taste, texture, freshness, and sweetness to the foods we love.
- Maintains freshness in condiments
- Enhances fruit & spice flavors in marinades
- Aids in fermentation for breads and yogurts
- Retains moisture in breakfast bars & cereals
- Makes high fiber baked goods and cereals palatable
- Maintains consistent flavors in beverages
- Keeps ingredients evenly mixed in salad dressings
“In addition to providing sweetness, HFCS acts to preserve and protect food from water activity, improves texture and reduces freezer burn. It imparts browning to breads, cakes and cookies and provides a soft, moist texture in the production of items like snack bars. And liquid HFCS blends easily with other ingredients.”
- Phil Lempert, The Supermarket Guru ®, Food, Nutrition, & Science from The Lempert Report, April 30, 2010
“HFCS fulfills nontraditional roles in food systems aside from its expected role as a sweetener. Consumers express surprise at finding it unexpectedly on product labels without realizing that this occurs largely because of the unique functionality of the free fructose molecule. HFCS replaces an earlier generation of less desirable food ingredients (e.g., propylene glycol for moisture retention) by providing the following functional benefits: flavor enhancement with fruit and spice flavors; colligative properties such as freezing point depression and osmotic pressure, useful in ice cream and frozen fruit; fermentable solids, necessary in yogurt and yeast-raised baked goods; reducing sugars, responsible for the pleasing brown colors, appetizing flavors, and aromas of baked goods and cooked meats; resistance to crystallization, enabling soft-moist cookies and eliminating "sticky caps" in pharmaceutical elixirs; and for moisture retention, improving palatability in low-moisture granola bars.”
- John S. White, Ph.D., Caloric Sweetener Expert and President, White Technical Research, The Journal of Nutrition, June 2009
*The term ‘corn sugar’ today is an FDA approved alternate label name for dextrose, a corn-based sweetener that contains no fructose. When we use the phrase ‘corn sugar,’ we are using it to describe high fructose corn syrup as a form of sugar made from corn.
