Question

In making candy or syrups from sugar, sucrose is boiled in water with a little acid, such as lemon juice. Why does the product mixture taste sweeter than the starting sucrose solution?

Answer 1

In making candy or syrups from sugar, sucrose is boiled in water hence it converted into Inverted or invert sugar syrup which is a mixture of glucose and fructose. This inverted sugar is sweeter than sucrose.

In making candy or syrups from sugar, sucrose is boiled in water with a little acid, such as lemon juice due to following reasons:

1. The lemon juice can accelerate the conversion of sucrose to invert sugar, means it can catalyze the reaction.

2. It prevents the crystallizing.