Caramel production

Caramel color interacts with other food components. As an example, a concentration higher than 700 ppm caramel in cola increased the rate of hydrolysis of the aspartame, forming alpha-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine. Caramelization products inhibited enzymic browning by 85.8 and 72.2% when heated at pH 4 and 6, respectively, for 90 min. The highest inhibitory activity was found for the fraction with molecular weight of 1000 to 3000. Caramel is often used for adulteration of juices and other foods like honey or coffee. It can be determined by quantification of marker molecules such as 5-HMF, 4-Mel, and DFAs. ... 

The preferred source of milk solids for making toffee and caramel products remains sweetened condensed milk. This was one of the earliest ways of producing a stable product from milk. Both full cream and skimmed milk forms are used. The advantage of skimmed sweetened condensed milk is that the milk fat can be replaced with vegetable fat if so required. Products made from sweetened condensed milk are... 

Very long tube of just the right length so as to maximize production of caramelized product... 

Compare the simple beauty of these documents with the mountains of paper issueing, for example, from the European Union for instance, the European Initiative on Caramel Products, issued in the 1980s, uses about 250,000 words (about one-third of the words in the entire Bible) Such excesses become the source of ridicule and an embarrassment to the legal profession. Even the legal profession itself recognizes that there are many idiocies in the law. For readers interested in this area, I suggest they read a lawyer s view on the subject.8... 

Alcoholic fermentation common sweetener caramel production food preservation... 

It involves the heat-induced decomposition of sugars, normally monosaccharides. They undergo initial enolization and progress to subsequent complex reactions, such as dehydration, dicarboxylic cleaving, and aldol condensation [11]. Caramelization products vary in chemical and physical properties and in their constituents depending on the temperature, the pH, and the duration of heating [12,13]. 

The Amadori products decompose to characteristic a-dicarbonyl compounds and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (bread and coffee aroma). In the end, like their aldimines or ketimines, they lead in foUow-on reactions to melanoidins (high molecular-weight compounds), which, together with caramel products, create the brown colour of grilled or toasted food. 

A wide variety of special malts are produced which impart different flavor characteristics to beers. These malts are made from green (malt that has not been dried) or finished malts by roasting at elevated temperatures or by adjusting temperature profiles during kilning. A partial Hst of specialty malts includes standard malts, ie, standard brewers, lager, ale, Vienna, and wheat caramelized malts, ie, Munich, caramel, and dextrine and roasted products, ie, amber, chocolate, black, and roasted barley. 

Amber or gold mms can be matured in wood barrels three years, though the color in gold mms should not necessarily imply that it was derived from aging. Often the color is achieved by adding caramel color to the product. They are more flavorful than light mm. 

To prepare caramel, com symp and the appropriate reactants are cooked at about 121°C for several hours or until the proper tinctorial power has been obtained. The product is then filtered and stored cool to minimise further caramelization. Often it is dmm- or spray-dried to produce free-flowing powders containing 5% or less moisture (61,62). 

R. T. Tinner, "Caramel Coloring— Production, Composition, and Functionahty," Faker s Digest, Apr. 1965. 

The heat is carefully controlled during caramelization to get the right products from the reaction. Besides acids, alkalies and salts may be used to further control the process. 

The literature in this field is confusing because of a somewhat haphazard method of nomenclature that has arisen historically. This is compounded by some mistakes in structure determination, reported in early papers, and which are occasionally quoted. The first part of this chapter deals with nomenclature and with a brief overview of early work. Subsequent sections deal with the formation and metabolism of di-D-fructose dianhydrides by micro-organisms, and the formation of dihexulose dianhydrides by protonic and thermal activation. In relation to the latter topic, recent conclusions regarding the nature of sucrose caramels are covered. Other sections deal with the effects of di-D-fructose dianhydrides upon the industrial production of sucrose and fructose, and the possible ways in which these compounds might be exploited. An overview of the topic of conformational energies and implications for product distributions is also presented. 

The treatment of sucrose with anhydrous HF89 results in the formation of a complex mixture of pseudooligo- and poly-saccharides up to dp 14, which were detected by fast-atom-bombardment mass spectrometry (FABMS). Some of the smaller products were isolated and identified by comparison with the known compounds prepared86 88 a-D-Fru/-1,2 2,1 -p-D-Fru/j (1), either free or variously glucosylated, was a major product, and this is in accord with the known stability of the compound. The mechanism of formation of the products in the case of sucrose involves preliminary condensation of two fructose residues. The resultant dianhydride is then glucosylated by glucopyranosyl cation.89 The characterization of this type of compound was an important step because it has permitted an increased understanding of the chemical nature of caramels. 

Thermal activation of sucrose and inulin in the presence of citric acid,93 and sucrose in the presence of acetic94 acid, yields caramels containing, among other products, di-D-fructose dianhydrides and glycosylated difructose dianhydrides, as described in Section V.6). Similarly, the thermal treatment of 6-0-ot-D-glu-copyranosyl-D-fructofuranose (palatinose) in the presence of citric acid87 has been shown to produce appreciable proportions of glucosylated di-D-fructose dianhydrides. 

Similar anomalous distributions are observed in other thermal product mixtures. A commercial soft caramel made by heating sucrose and 0.1% acetic acid to 160°C contained 18% of a mixture of di-D-fructose dianhydrides.94 fi-D-Fru/-1,2 2,1 - 3-D-Fru/(now assigned as a-D-Fru/-l,2 2,l -a-D-Fru/83), ot-D-Fru/-1,2 2,1 -p-D-Fru/(5), ot-D-Frup-1,2 2,l -0-D-Fnjp (4), ot-D-Fru/-l,2 2,1 - 3-D-Frup (1), and p-D-Fru/-l,2 2,3 - 3-D-Fru/ (2) were found in the ratio 4 12 1 6 2. The first three of these, constituting 68% of the mixture, are considered to be kinetic products. The authors commented on this, but did not offer any explanation. Notice, however, that the preparation of such commercial caramels commences with heating of an acidic aqueous solution of sucrose, which almost certainly results in hydrolysis. Hence, the final dianhydrides are probably derived from the reaction of fructose, rather than sucrose. 

The non-precipitable (that is, lower molecular weight) component of a product from thermolysis (170°C, 80 min.) of anhydrous amorphous sucrose acidified with 1% citric acid contains 19% disaccharides, predominantly di-D-fructose dianhydrides.93 Only two of these were identified, namely a-D-Fru/-1,2 2,1 - 3-D-Fru/ (5) and ct-D-Fru/-l,2 2,1 - 3-D-Frup (1) in the ratio 1 1. This result can be compared with the ratio 2 1 for the commercial caramel.94... 

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