Licorice as flavoring agent

Licorice is the name applied to the roots and stolons of some Glycyrrhiza species (Leguminosae or Fabaceae). In Sanskrit, it is called sweet stalk. The Greeks named it sweet root. Licorice oil is widely used as a natural sweetener and flavoring agent.

This intense sweetness can be traced to glycyrrhizic acid, a multipurpose molecule that consists of two sugar moieties attached to a steroid-like triterpenoid: in addition, contains some volatile compounds, flavonoids, and saponins.

Glycyrrhizin is a plant glycoside extracted from roots of the liquorice plant. It is about 30–50 times sweeter than sucrose, but is not metabolized and has no effect on glycemic index. It exhibits a sweet woody flavor, which limits its use as a pure sweetener. Glycyrrhizin enhances food flavors, masks bitter flavors, and increases the perceived sweetness level of sucrose.

The most important industrial use of licorice is the production of food additives, such as flavors and sweetening agents. Licorice is a popular sweetener found in many soft drinks, food products, snacks, toothpaste, cosmetics and herbal medicines.
Licorice as flavoring agent

Discovery of Cyclamate

In 1937 Michael Sveda a graduate student at the University of Illinois was working in the lab on the synthesis of anti-fever medication.

One day in the laboratory of Prof. Audrieth, he picked up a cigarette lying on his lab bench, put it in his mouth, and discovered that it tasted surprisingly sweet.

Sveda then tasted every substance in sight and traced the sweetness to a compound known as sodium cyclohexylsulfamate. Five years later, Sveda and his professor obtained a patent and assigned the rights to DuPont, Sveda's new employer.

After some initial development by duPont, cyclamate was taken up (under licence) by Abbott Laboratories, a pharmaceutical firm in North Chicago that hope to produce a sweetener suitable for diabetics and other people on sugar restricted diets.

This substance, which proved to be approximately 30 times sweeter than sugar, was first marketed in 1949 as sodium cyclamate in tablet form for use by diabetics.

In 1953, a mixture of 10 parts cyclamate to 1 part saccharin largely replaced the cyclamate-only product, because taste panels had judged that combination to be more palatable.

Cyclamate is generally used in foods as either the sodium or calcium salt. Since 1937, many other sulfamates have been synthesized, although none have been developed for use in foods.

In November 1959, cyclamate was place in the Food and Drug Administration’s list of GRAS. Cyclamate is approved as a sweetener in at least 130 countries while it is currently banned in the United States.
Discovery of Cyclamate

Sodium saccharin: non-caloric sweetener

Saccharin, a non-caloric sweetener is approximately 300-500 times sweeter than sugar and is heat stable, allowing it to be used in cooking and baking, as well as sweetener for foods and beverages.

Soluble in amyl acetate, ethyl acetate, benzene and alcohol; it is slightly soluble in water, chloroform, and ether. Saccharin is derived from a mixture of toluenesulfonic acids.

It is commercially available in four forms: acid saccharin, sodium saccharin, potassium saccharin and calcium saccharin.

Saccharin

Physically sodium saccharin is a white crystalline powder (dihyrate form) or monoclinic white crystals (saccharin insoluble form) with no odor and an intensely sweet taste.

Sodium saccharin is the most commonly used form because of its high solubility, stability and low production costs.
Sodium saccharin: non-caloric sweetener

Miracle fruit as a sweetener

Miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum), grows in the coastal region of West Africa, and first came to European attention in the 1850s when an English surgeon noted that the commander of a British fort in Dahomey enjoyed ‘constant opportunities of testing the wonderful effects of this fruit’.

Miracle fruit has been studied for its sweetness value. The extract is lemon tasted sweet but did not sweeten coffee or other unsweetened food. The sweetening lemons required about ½ hours before taking effect and that effect lasted for only about 3 hours.

It was proposed that the effect of this berry’s extract is not to sweeten but to numb the ability of the taste buds to detect acidity, allowing the sugar in the lemon to come through.

Research by Kurihara and Beidler (1969), have suggested that the glycoprotein that is the active component in miracle fruit might have two binding sites. One of these binds to the receptor membrane, and the other is actually a sugar molecule that can bind to the sweet receptor site in the usual fashion.

Normally, the sugar molecule is held in a position that prevents its binding. Acid is assumed to change the conformation of the sweet receptor site so that it can come into contact with the sugar molecules.

Miracle fruit contains the protein miraculin, which is related to the protein thaumatin found in another ‘sweetener’ plant Thaumatocossus.
Miracle fruit as a sweetener

Natural sweetener of serendipity berry

The serendipity berry contains the most intense natural sweetener known. It is the fruit of the plant, Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii, indigenous to Africa.

It grows in the rainforest during the rainy season from approximately July to October.

While the berry is too sweet to have found use among the natives, parts of the plant are eaten. The sweetening principle is a polypeptide, soluble in water, but very large labile at high temperature.

The non-sucrose compound responsible for the sweet taste is classified as monellin, a sweet polypeptide. The sweetness of monellin is approximately 2500 times sweeter than sucrose in a weight basis.

It occurs in the pulp of the small fruit. There is no known use of this naturally occurring sweetener at present.  It chemical structure has been identified as yet. It appears to be associated with the fruit’s protein fraction, but it is beloved to be other than proteinaceous.
Natural sweetener of serendipity berry

Sorbitol

Sorbitol is a polyhydric alcohol (C6H8(OH)6) that so found in red seaweed and in fruits (apples, cherries, peaches, pears and prunes.  Sorbitol occurs naturally and has approximately 0.5X the sweetness of sucrose.

In pome fruit such as pears the main sugar is fructose (54-63%), sorbitol accounts for 22-31%, glucose for 11-15% and sucrose for 4-5%. During ripening, sucrose increases and sorbitol decreases without changing the Brix.

Sorbitol is extensively used for the replacement of refined carbohydrates as food sweeteners and additives.

It was first isolated from the sorb berries of the mountain ash; hence its name. It was used as an additive because of it humectants property as well as it sweetening effect. It is used in cough syrup, mouthwashes and tooth paste.

Sorbitol has good heat stability, resistance to thermal and non-enzymatic browning and is an excellent bulking or bodying agent.
Sorbitol

High-potency sweetener

Sweeteners fall into three categories:
*Nutritive
*Nonnutritive
*High potency

High-potency is the type used in diet beverages, they are many times sweeter than sucrose and are generally noncaloric. There are several high-potency sweeteners available to the world wide beverage developer such as aspartame, acesulfame potassium.

All high-potency sweeteners exhibit a potency range depending upon the application and desired intensity of sweeteners. Neotame is 7000 to 13000 times sweeter than sucrose or 30 to 60 times sweeter than aspartame.

The very high potency means that a much lower dose of neotame is required to have equivalent sweetness by other sweeteners. Low dosage translates into significant cost savings and recued logistics resources. 

High-potency sweeteners tend to have some undesirable attributes such as bitterness, aftertastes and lingering characteristics.
High-potency sweetener

Sweeteners

Sweeteners
Lactose
Lactose the sugar component of mammalian milks is less sweet and less water-soluble than sucrose.

While babies and young children generally are able to metabolize this sugar some are unable to do so.

The ability to metabolize the sugar appears to decrease with age. When a person is unable to metabolize lactose, the ingestion of milk may cause intestinal discomfort, cramps and diarrhea.

The major source of lactose is whey, a cheese by-product.

Because lactose is not sweet as sucrose, larger amounts can be used in those foods in which the texture benefits from a high solids content.

Maltose
Maltose or malt sugar is produced during the malting process in brewing (enzyme conversion of starch).

It is converted to alcohol by the action of yeast through an intermediate conversion to dextrose.

This sugar is much less sweet than sucrose, and it is used mainly in the manufactured to baked and infants foods.

Saccharin
Saccharin, the imide of o-benzosulfonic acid, is used as a sodium or calcium salt. It is about 300 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar).

It may leave a bitter after taste and its safety has been questioned as a result of some animal feeding tests.

As an intense sweetener it is useful for diabetes and it reduces the incidence of dental caries.

Cyclamate
In many cases it was used together with saccharin. Cyclamate is not as sweet as saccharin by weight, but it is about 30 times sweeter than sucrose. Like saccharin, it has been used as sodium or calcium salt.
Sweeteners

Sweetener: Molasses, Honey and Maple Sugar

Sweetener: Molasses, Honey and Maple Sugar
Molasses
Molasses can be considered a by product of sugar production. The use of molasses as a sweetener in human food is largely in baked goods that include bread, cookies, and cakes. In addition to sweetening, molasses adds flavor and acts as a humectant. It is also used in baked beans and in the production of rum and molasses alcohol. The greatest use of molasses, however, is in the production of animal feeds. Molasses comprises about 60% sucrose but the sucrose content can be lower, depending on the grade of the molasses and on the raw material from which it was produced. Thus, the sucrose content of cane blackstrap (the final fraction of cane molasses) is only about one half that of beet blackstrap (the final fraction of beet molasses). The fractions produced before the blackstrap are higher grades and are those usually used for human consumption. Blackstrap generally is used for industrial purposes.

Honey
Honey, a natural viscous syrup, comprises mainly invert sugar. It is produced from the nectars of flowers, which is mainly sucrose, by the action of invertase enzyme that is secreted by the honey bee. Honey is used as a direct sweetener, as an additive in a number, including baked goods, as well as other ways. It is relatively expensive.

Maple Sugar
Maple sugar is produced from sap of the sugar maple tree. It comprises mainly sucrose and small amounts of other sugars, including invert sugar. Maple sugar is used in the manufacture of candies, fudge, baked goods, and toppings. It is among the most expensive of sweetener.
Sweetener: Molasses, Honey and Maple Sugar

Sweeteners in Foods

Sugars and sweeteners have an important role in the human diet and choosing the right ones in the right amounts can influence health.

Sweet tasting substance play an important role in modulating food choice and preference. It is highly palatable and very popular. Many processed foods have sweeteners added and much of their success depends on having the right degree of sweeteners to attract the consumer.

Sweetening agents are added to a large number of foods and beverages. Sweeteners include other sugars, as well as an abundance of natural and synthetic agents of varying strength and caloric values.

Many sweeteners are classified as nonnutritive sweeteners. While this classification might imply a lack of nutritional value, the implication is correct only in a relative sense. The introduction of diet soda in the 1950s sparked the wide spread use of nonnutritive sweeteners, substitutes for sugar that provide no calories. 

Evidence shows that diets that use nonnutritive sweetened products can aid in weight loss and/or maintenance (i.e. weight control) in obese people. Nonnutritive sweeteners were generally consumed in beverages.

Replacement of sugars in foods has given a new perspective on healthy foods where claims such as ‘sugar free’, ‘no-added-sugar’ and ‘reduced calorie sugar’ are being exploited by food manufacturer.

There are other sweet substances know as D-tagatose and trehalose recognized in GRAS and can be added to foods. Small amounts of tagatose are found naturally in some dairy foods, and tagatose is derived from lactose.
Sweeteners in foods