Nutritional Composition of Maltose
Maltose, also known as malt sugar, sticky sugar, or glutinous sugar, is a sweetener produced by steaming, fermenting, and saccharifying ingredients like glutinous rice, japonica rice, wheat flour, millet, or corn with malt. It comes in soft and hard varieties, with soft malt sugar primarily used medicinally.According to traditional Chinese medicine, maltose is sweet, warm, and non-toxic. It enters the lung and stomach meridians. It has the effects of soothing the middle burner, replenishing deficiency, strengthening the spleen and harmonizing the stomach, generating fluids to moisten dryness, and moistening the lungs to stop coughing. It is primarily used to treat qi deficiency fatigue, stomach cold abdominal pain, and qi deficiency cough.
Maltose Overview:
Maltose is a sugar-based food produced by fermenting grains such as rice, barley, millet, or corn. It has a mild sweetness and enhances the color and aroma of dishes. It is produced nationwide.It exists in soft and hard forms: the soft variety is a thick, sticky, yellowish-brown liquid known as malt syrup; the hard form is a porous, yellowish-white sugar cake called white malt sugar, produced by stirring the soft syrup and incorporating air before solidification. For medicinal use, malt syrup is preferred.Maltose belongs to the disaccharide category, appearing as white needle-like crystals that dissolve easily in water. Though sweet, it is less so than sucrose. It possesses the efficacy of strengthening the spleen and stomach, moistening the lungs, and relieving coughs, making it a food suitable for all ages.
The efficacy of maltose is considered superior when its texture is thick and soft like honey, while the hard variety is inferior.In traditional Chinese formulas, maltose is often used as a tonic to replenish qi and strengthen the middle jiao. Its nourishing, calming, and stomach-strengthening effects surpass those of white sugar. Nutritional Analysis of Maltose: Maltose moistens the lungs, generates fluids, and alleviates dryness. It can treat qi deficiency fatigue, cold-induced abdominal pain, lung deficiency, and chronic cough or wheezing.
Maltose (Maltsugar) is a disaccharide produced when amylase enzymes break down stored starch during the germination of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), a grass species. It serves as the primary sugar component in sweet foods.
Commercially available maltose, also known as malt sugar, is not pure maltose but a mixture containing maltose, glucose, and dextrin.
From a chemical perspective:
Maltose (or Malt Sugar) is a chemical term belonging to the disaccharide (bidiose) category. It forms white needle-like crystals.Common maltose does not crystallize. During cooking, the addition of sucrose transforms white maltose into a golden yellow color, enhancing its appearance, aroma, and flavor. The chemical formula for maltose is C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁.
It is a disaccharide formed by two D-glucose molecules linked via an α-1,4 bond, exhibiting reducing properties.Crystals precipitated from its aqueous or dilute alcoholic solutions form β-type hydrates containing one water molecule.
Maltose is the primary hydrolysis product of macromolecular polysaccharides like starch, glycogen, and dextrin under β-amylase catalysis. Further hydrolysis by maltase yields two D-glucose molecules.Inorganic acids like hydrochloric acid can also hydrolyze maltose. Free-form maltose does not appear to exist within cells.
Maltose is the primary component of edible malt syrup. During production, starch serves as the raw material; under the action of amylase in malt, a product predominantly containing maltose is obtained.
Maltose Preparation Guide
1. Heat starch and water together into a paste, then cool to 60°C.
2. Add malt (containing amylase) and maintain this temperature for about 1 hour.
3. Reheat to boiling point to complete.
Suitable for:
Generally suitable for all populations. Diabetics should avoid consumption.