Golden syrup
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Golden syrup is a thick, amber-colored form of inverted sugar syrup, made in the process of refining sugar cane juice into sugar, or by treatment of a sugar solution with acid. It is used in a variety of baking recipes and desserts. It has an appearance and taste similar to honey, and is often used as a substitute for people who cannot eat honey and those who choose not to (such as vegans). It can also be used as a substitute for corn syrup.
In cane sugar refining, the Golden syrup is a combination of byproducts at the crystallization stage, but an equivalent product is made by beet sugar refiners by processing a sugar solution and breaking down the disaccharide sucrose so that some, but not all, is converted into glucose and fructose. This is either done by acid hydrolysis or by adding an enzyme invertase.
Typical chemical reactions are that the disaccharides are split by hydrochloric acid, resulting in a solution which is acidic. This is restored to neutral by the addition of lye, which is sodium hydroxide. The consequence is that syrup made according to these reactions contains salt (sodium chloride).
The glucose and fructose crystallize less readily than sucrose but give equivalent preserving properties to the solution. As a result, golden syrups are less likely to crystallize than a pure sucrose syrup. The high fructose content gives it a sweeter taste than an equivalent solution of white sugar; when substituting golden syrup for white sugar, about 25 percent less golden syrup is needed for the same level of sweetness.
The term invert comes from the method used for measuring sugar syrups. Plane polarised light passed through a sample of pure sugar (sucrose) solution is rotated (optical rotation). As the solution is converted to a mixture of sucrose, fructose and glucose, the amount of rotation is reduced and the light appears inverted compared to light passed through the sugar solution.
Golden syrup is widely available in Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, but harder to find in North America. One of the best known (UK) brands is Lyle's Golden Syrup, made by Tate & Lyle. Another UK sugar company, British Sugar makes an equivalent product under its Silver Spoon Brand. In Australia, Sugar Australia produces their own golden syrup, and Rogers Golden Syrup is available in Canada. KING brand syrup, a mixture of corn and invert syrup, is sold in many areas of USA, often grouped with table syrups. In New Zealand, Chelsea Golden Syrup has been a household name since the late 19th century.
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