What is cultured sugar?

Answer 1

The manufacturers of cultured sugars use sucrose from cane or beet, various corn surars and dextrose (maltodextrin) or even lactose (milk sugar) e.g. in skim milk as the substrate. The sugar of choice is inoculated with known bacteria species including but not limited to Lactobacillus paracasei, Bacillus coagulans and Propionibacterium freudenreichii and are given the ideal growth environment conditions. The bacteria consume the sugar and create byproducts (their waste); depending on the bacteria used, the kind of sugar, impurities (like milk proteins) and the environmental conditions, the by products can include peptides, organic acids (like lactic, acetic, propionic), acetates, formates, succinates, simple sugars like glucose and fructose, even carbon dioxide, antibiotics and alcohol may be in the mix. These are the same category of byproducts that are produced when milk is fermented to cheese, yogurt, acidophillus, buttermilk, sour cream, or keifer. Also, when soy and rice are fermented to miso and sake, Grape Juice to wine, grain flours to sourdough and wine is reduced to vinegars. You get the drift. The finished product may be sold as a liquid or a dried granular powder. The US food codes (CFR) permit manufacturers who use it as an ingredient in their products to call it "cultured sugar" or the label. It is used at a self limiting rate, because it has color, aroma and flavor, so if you put too much in chocolate, potato salad or corn bread, you may give it an off flavor or aroma. What it dose is extend the shelf life of a product, slow or stop the growth of spoilage organisms and even kill certain pathogens. To give it some perspective, when Swiss cheese is made, propionic bacteria in the cheese culture convert the lactic acid in the cheese into propionic acid. It is the propionic acid that give Swiss type cheeses their distinctive flavor and aroma. More important to health is that propionic acid and all the other organic acids are what serve to preserve the food from spoilage and from the pathogens that cannot grow in the conditions presented when the organic acids become too concentrated. if you want more information, search keywords: verdad, microgard, GRAS notification.