Physico-chemical Properties of Sweeteners in Confections

Sugars and other sweeteners are often the main components of a confection. Besides making them sweet, they also provide bulk to the candy. However, the physico-chemical properties of the sweeteners do more than just provide bulk. The physical characteristics of a candy, which include consistency, chewy or stretchy characteristics, melt-in-the-mouth behavior, flavor release, and many other properties, are dependent on the nature of the sweetener. For example, sucrose by itself can be turned into candies with completely different characteristics – rock candy and cotton candy – simply by how it is processed. Rock candy, a crystalline form of sucrose, has very little color or flavor and takes a long time to dissolve in the mouth. Cotton candy, on the other hand, is a glassy form of sucrose that has colors and flavors distributed throughout the candy and dissolves almost instantaneously when placed in the mouth. To make high quality candies, it is important that the confectioner understand the properties of sugars that lead to these completely different characteristics.