Original Source

Citrus fruits (modified) Citrus fruits (modified)

Date of Commercialization

1990s 1990s

Notable Qualities

Ingredient

Alitame Alitame

Relative Sweetness

200,000 200,000.

Original Source

Amino acids (modified) Amino acids (modified)

Date of Commercialization

1990s 1990s

Notable Qualities

Ingredient

Thaumatin Thaumatin

Relative Sweetness

200,000300,000 200,000300,000

Original Source

African plant African plant

Date of Commercialization

1980s 1980s

Notable Qualities

Ingredient

Neotame Neotame

Relative Sweetness

800,000 800,000.

Original Source

Aspartame (modified) Aspartame (modified)

Date of Commercialization

2000s? 2000s?

Notable Qualities

Bulking Ingredients: Sugar Alcohols The most common ingredients that provide sugar-like bulk are the sugar alcohols, or polyols - chemicals whose names end in The most common ingredients that provide sugar-like bulk are the sugar alcohols, or polyols - chemicals whose names end in -itol -itol - which are essentially sugars with one corner of their molecule modified (for example, sorbitol is derived in this way from glucose). Small amounts of some sugar alcohols - sorbitol, mannitol - are found in many fruits and plant parts. Because the human body is designed to make use of sugars, not sugar alcohols, we absorb only a fraction of these molecules from food, and use that fraction inefficiently: so they cause only a slow rise in blood insulin levels. The rest are metabolized by the microbes in our intestines, and we obtain their energy indirectly. All told, sugar alcohols provide 5075% of the caloric value of sugar. - which are essentially sugars with one corner of their molecule modified (for example, sorbitol is derived in this way from glucose). Small amounts of some sugar alcohols - sorbitol, mannitol - are found in many fruits and plant parts. Because the human body is designed to make use of sugars, not sugar alcohols, we absorb only a fraction of these molecules from food, and use that fraction inefficiently: so they cause only a slow rise in blood insulin levels. The rest are metabolized by the microbes in our intestines, and we obtain their energy indirectly. All told, sugar alcohols provide 5075% of the caloric value of sugar.

Sugar alcohols don't have the chemical structure (aldehyde group) that initiates the browning reactions with each other and with amino acids, so they have the sometimes useful property of being resistant to discoloration and flavor changes when heated to make confections.

Intensive Sweeteners Though most of the intensive sweeteners that we consume today were synthesized in industrial laboratories, a number of them occur in nature and have been enjoyed for centuries. Glycyrrhizin or glycyrrhizic acid, a compound found in licorice root, is 50100 times sweeter than sucrose, and is the reason that licorice was first made into a sweet by extracting the root in hot water, then boiling down the extract. The sweetness of the extract builds slowly in the mouth and lingers. And the leaves of a South American plant commonly known as stevia, Though most of the intensive sweeteners that we consume today were synthesized in industrial laboratories, a number of them occur in nature and have been enjoyed for centuries. Glycyrrhizin or glycyrrhizic acid, a compound found in licorice root, is 50100 times sweeter than sucrose, and is the reason that licorice was first made into a sweet by extracting the root in hot water, then boiling down the extract. The sweetness of the extract builds slowly in the mouth and lingers. And the leaves of a South American plant commonly known as stevia, Stevia rebaudiana, Stevia rebaudiana, have been used for centuries in its homeland to sweeten mate tea. Its active ingredient, stevioside, is available in a purified powdered form. Neither it nor the plant has been approved by the U.S. FDA as a food additive, so they're sold as dietary supplements. have been used for centuries in its homeland to sweeten mate tea. Its active ingredient, stevioside, is available in a purified powdered form. Neither it nor the plant has been approved by the U.S. FDA as a food additive, so they're sold as dietary supplements.

Intensive sweeteners often have some flavor qualities that make them imperfect replacements for table sugar. For example, saccharin has a metallic aftertaste and can seem bitter; stevioside has a woody after-taste. Many are slower than table sugar to trigger the sensation of sweetness, and their taste persists longer after swallowing. The relative sweetness of these sweeteners actually goes down as their individual concentration goes up, while combining them produces a synergistic effect. So manufacturers often use two or more to minimize their odd qualities and maximize their taste intensity.

Aspartame, a synthetic combination of two amino acids, is the most widely used noncaloric sweetener. It is 180200 times sweeter than table sugar, so that though it carries the same number of calories in a given weight, much smaller amounts are needed. Aspartame's disadvantage is that it is broken down by heat and by acidity and therefore can't be used in cooked preparations.

Modern LicoriceToday licorice is seldom used as a sweetener. The root of the licorice plant is extracted with ammonia to produce an ammonium salt of the sweet-tasting glycyrrhizic acid. The extract is much more expensive than mola.s.ses (the source of blackness in traditional licorice candies), sugar, gelatin, starch, and other ingredients in licorice candy, so it's used mainly as an aromatic flavoring. Licorice is especially popular in Denmark, where it's strangely combined in candies with salt and with ammonia. Glycyrrhizin also has effects on the hormone system that controls blood pressure and volume, and so in large doses can cause high blood pressure and swelling.

Sweetness Inhibitors Not only are there artificial sweeteners: there are also substances that block us from experiencing the sweetness of sugars. These taste inhibitors are useful for reducing the sweetness of a preparation whose texture depends on a high sugar concentration. Lactisole (tradename Cypha) is a phenolic compound found in small quant.i.ties in roasted coffee, patented as a flavor modifier in 1985, and used in confectionery and snacks. In very small amounts it reduces the apparent sweetness of sugar by two-thirds. Not only are there artificial sweeteners: there are also substances that block us from experiencing the sweetness of sugars. These taste inhibitors are useful for reducing the sweetness of a preparation whose texture depends on a high sugar concentration. Lactisole (tradename Cypha) is a phenolic compound found in small quant.i.ties in roasted coffee, patented as a flavor modifier in 1985, and used in confectionery and snacks. In very small amounts it reduces the apparent sweetness of sugar by two-thirds.

Sugars and Syrups

Honey Honey was the most important sweetener in Europe until the 16th century, when cane sugar and its more neutral sweetness became more widely available. Germany and the Slavic countries were leading producers in the meantime, and honey wine or mead mead (from the Sanskrit word for "honey") was a great favorite in both central Europe and Scandinavia. Honey is now valued as an alternative to sugar, a premade syrup with many distinctive flavors to offer. (from the Sanskrit word for "honey") was a great favorite in both central Europe and Scandinavia. Honey is now valued as an alternative to sugar, a premade syrup with many distinctive flavors to offer.

The Honeybee While the New World certainly knew and enjoyed honey before the arrival of European explorers, North America did not. The bees native to the New World, species of the genera While the New World certainly knew and enjoyed honey before the arrival of European explorers, North America did not. The bees native to the New World, species of the genera Melipona Melipona and and Trigona, Trigona, are exclusively tropical. They also differ from the European honeybees in being stingless and in collecting fluids not just from flowers, but also from fruits, resins, and even carrion and excrement - sources that make for unhealthful honeys as well as rich and strange flavors. European colonization brought a fundamental change to North America by introducing, around 1625, the bee that produces practically all the honey in the world today, are exclusively tropical. They also differ from the European honeybees in being stingless and in collecting fluids not just from flowers, but also from fruits, resins, and even carrion and excrement - sources that make for unhealthful honeys as well as rich and strange flavors. European colonization brought a fundamental change to North America by introducing, around 1625, the bee that produces practically all the honey in the world today, Apis mellifera. Apis mellifera.

Bees are social insects that have evolved along with nectar-producing flowering plants. The two organisms help each other out: plants provide the insects with food, and insects carry cross-fertilizing pollen from one flower to another. Honey is the form in which flower nectar is stored in the hive. It appears from the fossil record that bees have been around for some 50 million years, their social organization for half that time. Apis, Apis, the princ.i.p.al honey-producing genus, originated in India. the princ.i.p.al honey-producing genus, originated in India. Apis mellifera, Apis mellifera, the honey bee proper, evolved in subtropical Africa and now inhabits the whole of the Northern Hemisphere up to the Arctic Circle. the honey bee proper, evolved in subtropical Africa and now inhabits the whole of the Northern Hemisphere up to the Arctic Circle.

How Bees Make Honey Nectar The princ.i.p.al raw material of honey is the nectar collected from flowers, which produce it in order to attract pollinating insects and birds. Secondary sources include nectaries elsewhere on the plant and honeydew, the secretions of a particular group of bugs. The chemical composition of nectar varies widely, but its major ingredient by far is sugars. Some nectars are mostly sucrose, some are evenly divided among sucrose, glucose, and fructose, and some (sage and tupelo) are mostly fructose. A few nectars are harmless to bees but poisonous to humans, and so generate toxic honeys. Honey from the Pontic region of eastern Turkey was notorious in ancient Greece and Rome; a local species of rhododendron carries "grayanotoxins," which interfere with both lung and heart action. The princ.i.p.al raw material of honey is the nectar collected from flowers, which produce it in order to attract pollinating insects and birds. Secondary sources include nectaries elsewhere on the plant and honeydew, the secretions of a particular group of bugs. The chemical composition of nectar varies widely, but its major ingredient by far is sugars. Some nectars are mostly sucrose, some are evenly divided among sucrose, glucose, and fructose, and some (sage and tupelo) are mostly fructose. A few nectars are harmless to bees but poisonous to humans, and so generate toxic honeys. Honey from the Pontic region of eastern Turkey was notorious in ancient Greece and Rome; a local species of rhododendron carries "grayanotoxins," which interfere with both lung and heart action.

The most important sources of nectar are the flowers of plants in the bean family, especially clover, and in the lettuce family, a large group that includes the sunflower, dandelion, and thistles. Though most honey is made from a mixture of nectars from different flowers, some 300 different "monofloral" honeys are produced in the world, with citrus, chestnut, buckwheat, and lavender honeys especially valued for their distinctive tastes. Some honeys, chestnut and buckwheat in particular, are much darker than others, thanks in part to the higher protein content in their nectars, which reacts with the sugars to produce dark pigments as well as a toasted aroma.

Gathering Nectar The bee gathers nectar from a flower by inserting its long proboscis down into the nectary. In the process, its hairy body picks up pollen from the flower's anthers. The nectar pa.s.ses through the bee's esophagus into the honey sac, a storage tank that holds the nectar until the bee returns to the hive. Certain glands secrete enzymes into the sac, and these work to break down starch into smaller chains of sugars and sucrose into its const.i.tuent glucose and fructose molecules. The bee gathers nectar from a flower by inserting its long proboscis down into the nectary. In the process, its hairy body picks up pollen from the flower's anthers. The nectar pa.s.ses through the bee's esophagus into the honey sac, a storage tank that holds the nectar until the bee returns to the hive. Certain glands secrete enzymes into the sac, and these work to break down starch into smaller chains of sugars and sucrose into its const.i.tuent glucose and fructose molecules.

A few remarkable figures are worth quoting. A strong hive contains one mature queen, a few hundred male drones, and some 20,000 female workers. For every pound of honey taken to market, eight pounds are used by the hive in its everyday activities. The total flight path required for a bee to gather enough nectar for this pound of surplus honey has been estimated at three orbits around the earth. The average bee forages within one mile of the hive, makes up to 25 round trips each day, and carries a load of around 0.002 of an ounce, or 0.06 grams - approximately half its weight. With its light cha.s.sis, a bee would get about 7 million miles to a gallon (3 million km per liter) of honey. In a lifetime of gathering, a bee contributes only a small fraction of an ounce of honey to the hive.

The Advance of the Bee in North AmericaWe're lucky to have a near-contemporary description of the honey bee's movement across North America. In 1832, Washington Irving toured what is now the Oklahoma region and published his observations in A Tour on the Prairies. A Tour on the Prairies. The ninth chapter describes a "Bee-hunt," the practice of finding honey in the wild by following bees back to their hive. The ninth chapter describes a "Bee-hunt," the practice of finding honey in the wild by following bees back to their hive.It is surprising in what countless swarms the bees have overspread the Far West within but a moderate number of years. The Indians consider them the harbinger of the white man, as the buffalo is of the red man; and say that, in proportion as the bee advances, the Indian and buffalo retire. We are always accustomed to a.s.sociate the hum of the bee-hive with the farm-house and flower-garden, and to consider those industrious little animals as connected with the busy haunts of man, and I am told that the wild bee is seldom to be met with at any great distance from the frontier. They have been the heralds of civilization, steadfastly preceding it as it advanced from the Atlantic borders, and some of the ancient settlers of the West pretend to give the very year when the honeybee first crossed the Mississippi. The Indians with surprise found the mouldering trees of their forests suddenly teeming with ambrosial sweets, and nothing, I am told, can exceed the greedy relish with which they banquet for the first time upon this unbought luxury of the wilderness.For those of us who buy our luxury in jars, this initial sense of wonder is worth reimagining.

Transforming Nectar into Honey In the hive, the bees concentrate the nectar to the point that it will resist bacteria and molds and so keep until it is needed. "House bees" pump the nectar in and out of themselves for 15 or 20 minutes, repeatedly forming a thin droplet under their proboscises from which water can evaporate, until the water content of the nectar has dropped to 50 or 40%. The bees then deposit the concentrated nectar in a thin film on the honeycomb, which is a waxy network of hexagonal cylinders about 0.20 inch/5 mm across, built up from the secretions of the wax glands of young workers. Here, with workers keeping the hive air in continuous motion by fanning their wings, the nectar loses more moisture, until it's less than 20% water. This process, known as "ripening," takes about three weeks. The bees then fill the honeycomb cells to capacity with fully ripe honey and cap them with a layer of wax. In the hive, the bees concentrate the nectar to the point that it will resist bacteria and molds and so keep until it is needed. "House bees" pump the nectar in and out of themselves for 15 or 20 minutes, repeatedly forming a thin droplet under their proboscises from which water can evaporate, until the water content of the nectar has dropped to 50 or 40%. The bees then deposit the concentrated nectar in a thin film on the honeycomb, which is a waxy network of hexagonal cylinders about 0.20 inch/5 mm across, built up from the secretions of the wax glands of young workers. Here, with workers keeping the hive air in continuous motion by fanning their wings, the nectar loses more moisture, until it's less than 20% water. This process, known as "ripening," takes about three weeks. The bees then fill the honeycomb cells to capacity with fully ripe honey and cap them with a layer of wax.

The ripening of honey involves both evaporation and the continuing work of bee enzymes. One important enzyme converts the sucrose almost entirely to glucose and fructose, because a mixture of single-unit sugars is more soluble in water than the equivalent amount of its parent sucrose, and so can be more highly concentrated without crystallizing. Another enzyme oxidizes some glucose to form gluconic acid and peroxides. Gluconic acid lowers the honey's pH to about 3.9 and makes it less hospitable to microbes, and the peroxides also act as an antiseptic. In addition to these and other enzyme activities, the various components of ripening honey react with each other and cause gradual changes in color and flavor. Hundreds of different substances have been identified in honey, including more than 20 different sugars, savory amino acids, and a variety of antioxidant phenolic compounds and enzymes.

Honeycomb, and the anatomy of the worker bee. Worker bees hold freshly gathered nectar in the honey sac, together with enzymes from various glands, until they return to the hive.

Sweet AntsAmong the more unusual sweeteners are the honey or honeypot ants (species of Melophorus, Camponotus, Myrmecocystus Melophorus, Camponotus, Myrmecocystus) of Australia, Mexico, and the American southwest. Their colonies include a caste of workers whose role it is to store nectar and honeydew in their abdomens, which swell to the size of a pea or grape and become translucent. Honey ants are enjoyed by pinching off the abdomens and popping them directly into the mouth, or by folding them into tortillas.

Processing Honey Some honey is sold in its beeswax honeycomb, but producers extract most of their honey from the comb and then treat it to extend its shelf life. They remove the honeycomb from the hive and spin it in a centrifuge to separate liquid honey from solid wax. They then generally heat the honey to around 155F/68C to destroy sugar-fermenting yeasts, strain it to remove pieces of wax and debris, sometimes blend it with other honeys, and finally filter it under pressure to remove pollen grains and very small air bubbles that would cloud the liquid. The honey may be packaged as a liquid at this stage, or else crystallized to form a spreadable paste, or "cream," that doesn't run and drip the way liquid honey does. Though it seems solid, 85% of cream honey remains in its liquid form, dispersed around the 15% that has solidified into tiny crystals of glucose. Some honey is sold in its beeswax honeycomb, but producers extract most of their honey from the comb and then treat it to extend its shelf life. They remove the honeycomb from the hive and spin it in a centrifuge to separate liquid honey from solid wax. They then generally heat the honey to around 155F/68C to destroy sugar-fermenting yeasts, strain it to remove pieces of wax and debris, sometimes blend it with other honeys, and finally filter it under pressure to remove pollen grains and very small air bubbles that would cloud the liquid. The honey may be packaged as a liquid at this stage, or else crystallized to form a spreadable paste, or "cream," that doesn't run and drip the way liquid honey does. Though it seems solid, 85% of cream honey remains in its liquid form, dispersed around the 15% that has solidified into tiny crystals of glucose.

Because all sugars become increasingly soluble as the temperature rises, cream honey softens and begins to melt into liquid honey when it's warmed above about 80F/26C. By the same token, liquid honey that has granulated during storage can be reliquefied with gentle heat.

Storing Honey Honey is one of our more stable foods, but unlike table sugar it can spoil. This is because it contains some moisture and absorbs more from the air whenever the relative humidity exceeds 60%. Sugar-tolerant yeasts can grow on the honey and produce off-flavors. It's therefore best to store honey in a moisture-tight container. Honey is one of our more stable foods, but unlike table sugar it can spoil. This is because it contains some moisture and absorbs more from the air whenever the relative humidity exceeds 60%. Sugar-tolerant yeasts can grow on the honey and produce off-flavors. It's therefore best to store honey in a moisture-tight container.

Thanks to its high concentration of sugars and the presence of some amino acids and proteins, honey is p.r.o.ne to undesirable, flavor-flattening browning reactions, not just when heated, but also when stored for a long time at room temperature. If you use honey infrequently, it's best to keep it at temperatures below 50F/15C. Liquid honey will slowly granulate in the refrigerator, and cream honey will get somewhat coa.r.s.er.

Honey Flavor The most delightful quality of honeys is their flavors, which make them into natural sauce-like condiments. All honeys share a sweet taste base that is slightly tart and savory as well, and a complex aroma that has several different elements: caramel, vanilla, fruity (esters), floral (aldehydes), b.u.t.tery (diacetyl), sweet-spicy (sotolon, p. 418). Then honeys made from single nectars add their own distinctive notes. Buckwheat honey is malty (methylbuta.n.a.l); chestnut honey carries the distinct note of corn tortillas (aminoacetophenone, with both floral and animal elements); citrus and lavender honeys are citrusy and herbal but share a grapy note (methyl anthranilate); linden honey includes a mixture of mint, thyme, oregano, and tarragon aromatics. The most delightful quality of honeys is their flavors, which make them into natural sauce-like condiments. All honeys share a sweet taste base that is slightly tart and savory as well, and a complex aroma that has several different elements: caramel, vanilla, fruity (esters), floral (aldehydes), b.u.t.tery (diacetyl), sweet-spicy (sotolon, p. 418). Then honeys made from single nectars add their own distinctive notes. Buckwheat honey is malty (methylbuta.n.a.l); chestnut honey carries the distinct note of corn tortillas (aminoacetophenone, with both floral and animal elements); citrus and lavender honeys are citrusy and herbal but share a grapy note (methyl anthranilate); linden honey includes a mixture of mint, thyme, oregano, and tarragon aromatics.

The Composition of a Typical Honey

% by weight