Fructose in food

Fructose is a sweetener that is monosaccharide found naturally in fresh fruit and honey. It is comprise of six carbon atoms. Fructose is known as fruit sugar or laevulose.

The commercial production of fructose is mainly from glucose syrups. It is obtained by the inversion of sucrose by means of the enzymes invertase and by the isomerization of corn syrup.

Fructose is the sweetest natural saccharide and is approximately 1-1.5 times as sweet as sucrose. It is also water soluble.

It is in baked goods because it reacts with amino acids to produce a browning reaction. It is used as a nutritive sweetener in low-calorie beverages.

Some plants including chicory Jerusalem artichokes and dahlias contain appreciable quantities of the polysaccharide inulin, which is a polymer of fructose.

Fructose is different from high fructose corn syrup. HFCS is fructose bound to glucose, making its chemical composition nearly the same as that of table sugar.
Fructose in food