GKM-sugar+in+cola

This is actually the assignment given by Dr.during class... i just wan to share it and hope to see comment... will you share your product that contain sugar to me as well?

= SUGAR IN COCA-COLA (COLA DRINKS) =

Sugar plays an important role in making a food taste nicer by adding a sweet taste to it. In ancient time, honey was more often being used as a sweetener. After that, sugarcane juice was then discovered as an alternate of sweetener. Technique to granulate sugarcane juice into crystallize form was also discover for the easier transportation and storage. Until today, sugar that we consumed still made up of sugar cane and sugar beet. No doubt, sugar still plays a major role to the quality of a food and it serves several functions to a food for the taste and even storage purpose.

Scientifically, sugar can refer to carbohydrates, depending of the number of monomer, which is the saccharide, sugar can basically divided into monosaccharide, disaccharide, oligosaccharide and polysaccharide. Different number of monomer joined together to form a type of sugar that having own properties. Sugar serves many function in food such as, sweetening agent, provide food for the yeast in respect of bread rising, contribute energy in the diet, lowering the water activity of a food as preservative purpose and etc. Sugar is now can be found in almost every processed and packaged food in the market. There are a lot of words for “sugar” which may appear on the label. The possible words are dextrin, dextrin, invert sugar, corn syrup or rice syrup and the list goes on.

Soft drink or carbonated drink is a common beverage nowadays that loved by everyone. Sugar is one of the very important ingredients in the production of soft drink that contribute to the taste and quality of a soft drink. I would like to discuss about the sugar function in soft drink by taking Coca-cola drink as the example.

The basic main ingredients of coca-cola are of course carbonated water and sugar. The sugar is mainly in the form of sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup. The other ingredient can be found in Coca-cola are phosphoric acid, caramel E150d, caffeine and some flavouring such as lemon oil, cinnamon oil, coriander oil and etc.

In soft drink production, the sugar used is mainly refers to sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The content of sugar in soft drink contributes to the sweetness of the beverages. HFCS is used together with the sucrose to maximize the sweetness of the cola drink if compare to other kind of sugar such as glucose. Which mean the sweetness of the cola drink can be increased by using a lower amount of sugar. This is an efficient way of saving cost. Sucrose is much sweeter than glucose, whereas high-fructose corn syrup have a higher sweetness compare to sucrose. Let say Relative Sweetness Scale of sucrose is 100, a glucose have only 70-80 of sweetness but a HFCS have about 120-160 of sweetness. Whereas, fructose that can be found in the HFCS having a relative sweetness 140.

High-fructose corn syrup is also called isoglucose maize syrup. High-fructose corn syrup is basically a mixture of glucose and fructose. It is usually a corn syrup that have been undergone a series of enzymatic processing. The main enzyme that involved is glucose-isomerase that can convert glucose into fructose. There are variety of HFCS can be found, such as HFCS 55 (approximately 55% of fructose and 42% glucose), HFCS 42 and even HFCS90. HFCS42 is commonly used in baked goods and HFCS55 is usually used soft drink industries. HFCS is considered as ideal sweetener for the production of cola soft drink because of relatively low cost and high sweetness that can be achieved to give a perfect taste and mouth-feel to the consumer.

Carbonated water is another important ingredient other than sugar in the cola drinks. Carbonated water also called soda water and it is produced by the process known as carbonation. The carbon dioxide is dissolve in water to create a fizzy and sparkling effect to the cola drink. In order to dissolve carbon dioxide into the water in a greater amount, a pressure up to 100psi is used by the help of a mechanical pump. To enhance the absorption of carbon dioxide and to reduce the pressure required during production, phosphoric acid is added. Phosphoric acid is effectively reduces the pressure required to dissolve CO2 into the water by increasing the absorption of CO2. Also, the increasing of absorption of CO2, the realising of CO2 after the cola drink is opened is slower. This is an important quality to the cola drink. Phosphoric acid is physiologically a strong acid and thus it gives a sour taste to the cola drink if it is used as a part of the production of carbonated water. Since the use of phosphoric acid cannot be avoided due to the importance of the carbonated water to the cola drink quality, sugar is used as a complement to the sour taste that comes from the phosphoric acid. Sugar is a sweetener that can complement to the sour taste of the acid that creates a better drinking quality by imparting a “bite taste” in the Coca-cola drink.

Besides giving the taste and mouth-feel to the consumer of the Coca-cola, s ugar also contribute a certain level of energy to the body. Sugar provides lots of energy in the form that can be used quickly by the body. In each gram of sugar, there is about 4 kcal of energy. Protein and other complex carbohydrate also contain 4kcal in every gram whereas a gram of fat can contribute up to 9kcal. But human bodies need a longer time digest these than sugar. So, sugar energy is almost immediate. Taking the coca drink with plenty of sugar help to give a quick refreshment to the body.

Sugar also contributes to the quality of the cola drink by imparting a colour that is “eye appeal” in the form of caramel. Sugar is heated slowly under a temperature around 170°C so that the molecules are broken down and re-form into a compound that having a characteristic colour and flavour. Different caramel has different intensity of colour from dark to reddish brown colour. In the production of cola drink, caramel E150d is used, it is a sulfite ammonia and acid proof caramel, it also known as soft-drink caramel because it is widely used in the acidic soft drink. Caramelization of sugar still considered as a complex reaction. The caramelization allows the cola beverage to deliver colour that is “eye appealing” which looks refreshing and so that it is able to attract the costumer to purchase. In addition to the prior function of delivering colour, caramel helps to protect flavours agent present in the cola drink from light deterioration. It is also believed that caramel colour can acts as an emulsifying agent in the preparation of soft drink concentrates to reduce the use of gums.

So, in short, the sugar serves several important function to the quality of the cola drink by giving sweetness, contribute energy to diet, complement with phosphoric acid sour taste and imparting colour with caramel.