Amadori, and Strecker Degradations

A starch-glycine mixture, heated at 290°C, was significantly different from the starch control in its composition of alkoxyphenols and imidazoles in the involatile phase, and pyrazine, pyridine, methylpyridine, and dimeth-ylpyrroles in the volatile phase (Umano and Shibamoto, 1984). The neurotoxin 4(5)-methylimidazole appeared in the vapor phase when ammonia, but not amino acids, was the nitrogen source (Tomasik et al., 1989b). A corn starch-sucrose combination inhibited the Maillard reaction (Lee and Woo, 1988). 

Industrial caramel, known from the beginning to be essentially a mixture of burnt sugar polymers (Salamon, 1900), arises from the controlled action of heat on dry sugar or concentrated sugar solutions with or without acid, 

Caramel is unintentionally generated in burnt carbohydrate foods (rice, oatmeal, cornmeal, etc.) and molasses (Kowkabany et al., 1953) it is the source of maple flavor and color in the concentration of maple sap to maple syrup (Stinson and Willits, 1965). In industrial manufacturing, the intended application is taken into account, because reaction conditions help determine the properties of the pyrolysate, e.g., its tinctorial value, water solubility, and alcohol stability. Tinctorial value refers to the absorbance at 560 nm of a 0.1-wt/vol% solution in a 1-cm cell. Tinctorial strength increases with acidity, temperature, and duration of heating. Caramel manufactured above pH 6.3 is biologically unstable and much below pH 3.1, it is a resin. 

Polysaccharides are physically and chemically characterized in attempts to correlate their structure, properties, and function. Inasmuch as they cohabit space in vivo alongside and interspersed with numerous biochemicals that can be expected to be extracted with them, they must be purified prior to characterization. 

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