Why does everything have sugar in it ? It is n’t just in there because it tastes good . If that were all sugar had to offer , it would be added to far few products . As it is , sugar is sum to thing that are n’t like leather , concrete and hand lotion . Why ? Because it is hygroscopic .
Hygroscopic matter have a special affinity for water . Put them in humid aura , and they suck down the available liquid . There are all kind of hygroscopic materials , including table salt , cellulose , and sulphuric acid . None of these materials can be added to cupcake or hand lotion , as customers would complain .
In commercial snack cakes , carbohydrate keeps immerse water from the aviation , spend a penny the bar moist and silky - textured . The prescribed word for a substance that does this is a humectant , and cabbage is one of the most practical humectants around . Any intellectual nourishment that postulate to sit around for long periods of time without get crusty , sugar can aid . It also draws wet into non - food products like lotion and framework . Whatever is in danger of dry out , sugar can humidify .
There is , of path , a down side . You ’ve experienced it when you ’ve open a box of caramels on a humid day , run through a duad , left the top off the corner , and came back to come up the rest of the caramels a gluey mess . The sugar suck up the water from the environment , changing the texture of the confect . Sugar ’s hygroscopic caliber are also why mysterious pools of liquid form around hard candy left out on the retort . Sugar pull in water until the confect “ sudate ” and the liquid dribbled into a puddle .
[ ViaTwinkie Deconstructed , Serious Eats ]
figure of speech : Evan Amos .
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