ABSTRACT
Many different things taste sweet. If one pauses to think about well-known sweeteners — sugars like sucrose, glucose, and fructose — polyols like sorbitol and mannitol — amino acids like glycine — synthetic chemicals like cyclamate and saccharin — it becomes apparent that a great variety of sweet natural and synthetic chemicals exists. This variety of chemical structures offers a fascinating spectrum of technical properties, but there are a number of practical considerations greatly limiting the actual use of these chemicals as sweetening agents. Sweetness is one of four basic taste sensations: sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and saltiness. In a number of technological applications, the properties of synthetic sweeteners provide advantages over the practical limitations of sugar. Temperature stability is an important requirement for chemical sweeteners. Food processing often involves cooking; a sweetener should be stable toward boiling, baking, and pressure cooking.
