The adulteration of food : conferences by the Institute of Chemistry on Monday and Tuesday, July 14th and 15th : food adulteration and analysis.

Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The adulteration of food : conferences by the Institute of Chemistry on Monday and Tuesday, July 14th and 15th : food adulteration and analysis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    105/460 (page 91)
    on the addition of a little malt to starch paste there was mother product formed besides dextrine, and that other product is maltose, having the same centessimal com- position as cane-sugar. Maltose sugar was discovered by Debrunfaut, and was afterwards the subject of experi- ment and study by Musculus, but it was not until compara- tively recently, owing to the researches of Mr. O'Sullivan, of Burton-upon-Trent, that we really understood the nature of the change that took place by the action of these albu- minoid bodies, such as we find in malt upon starch paste. He showed us that a starch solution is acted upon by the diastase, as it is called, of the malt, and that it takes up water and forms maltose sugar and dextrine, the maltose sugar having the same formula as cane-sugar. This process continues, and more maltose is formed by the action of the diastase upon the more complex dextrines which are formed at first. Ultimately, however, a large portion of maltose is formed, and a very small quantity of dextrine, and under the most favourable conditions it is possible to convert the whole of the starch into maltose sugar. The maltose sugar thus made, dissolves in water, it is slightly sweet to the taste, and it does not crystallise in the way that cane-sugar does, and it is much more difficult to obtain in a crystalline forrr.. Maltose sugar is readily acted on by the yeast ferment. The next matter of interest in the study of these bodies are the albuminoids ; the albuminoids contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen just in the same way, but not in the same proportion as the carbo-hydrates, but they have in addition nitrogen, and sometimes a little sulphur. Their general composition is given in this table:— Average Composition of Albuminoids. Carbon . Hydrogen Nitrogen . Oxygen . 53'3 /•I 15-7 22'I Sulphur 100 Hypothetical formula, C'- H' N SO^l