Tips on how to make moon cake conversion syrup
first release | Du Dechun
Keywords:
disaccharide ~ acid (enzyme) - converted into two simple sugars ( fructose and glucose syrup).
white sugar is hydrolyzed by acid and converted into ( glucose syrup + fructose syrup ).
conversion temperature 108℃ (optimal).
cooking time h2-3 (best match).
Commonly used formula for conversion syrup (actually there are many problems with anti-sand crystallization, this formula is wrong; but everyone is using it).
100kg sugar,
50kg water,
80g citric acid ,
20g malic acid . The stronger the strength of
acid, the greater its transformation ability. For example, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, etc. can be converted quickly as long as they are used in small amounts. However, because strong acid is also very destructive to monosaccharide , the resulting syrup has poor quality in terms of color and flavor, and the risk of making it is also high. In fact, it is rarely used in production.
In principle, weak acid is used to make inversion syrup (citric acid is generally used, and natural fruit acid can be added).
Although the weak acid conversion ability is weak, the syrup is safe and has a light sour taste. The brewing time can be appropriately extended and the temperature can be controlled to stabilize the denaturation.
Syrup converted with acid is generally acidic, and its acidity is related to the type and amount of acid used. Whether alkali needs to be added to neutralize it depends on the acidity and purpose of the syrup. Generally speaking, syrups with a certain acidity (around PH3.7) are beneficial to the storage stability of glucose, fructose, but some syrups used in food (such as for decoration, etc.) must be neutral or close to neutral. In this case, a certain amount of baking soda or sodium carbonate can be used to make a 0.2% solution to neutralize it.
When producing inversion syrup, great attention should be paid to the heating temperature and heating time. If the heating temperature is too low, the hydrolysis speed will be slow and the time will be long. However, the heating temperature is too high, and although the time can be shortened, the monosaccharides are easily damaged, resulting in dark color, poor flavor, and reduced quality. In general. When
is made, the sugar liquid is always in a boiling state, and its boiling point (syrup temperature) is related to the concentration of the sugar liquid. Table 2 illustrates this relationship. [See: Du Dechun syrup concentration and thermometer ].
It can be seen from Table 2 that the higher the concentration of the sugar solution, the higher its boiling point, that is, the higher the heating temperature during conversion. In order to control the heating temperature from being too high, it is only necessary to appropriately control the concentration of the sugar solution.
Moreover, the sugar solution with a dilute concentration is also more conducive to transformation. However, in actual operation, since the sugar liquid is always in a boiling state, the water slowly evaporates, the concentration increases, and the boiling point gradually increases.
Therefore, in order to achieve a certain conversion rate, a sugar solution with a dilute concentration can be used. After heating to the boiling point, use a slow fire to simmer slowly, so that when the required conversion rate is reached, the concentration will just meet the requirements.
After sucrose is hydrolyzed into inversion syrup, great changes have taken place in its properties, mainly including: increased sweetness, reduced viscosity, hygroscopicity, moisturizing and coloring speed. In addition, syrup with a higher conversion rate also has considerable anti-caking and anti-fat oxidation effects.
These properties are very beneficial to improving the product quality of mooncakes and extending their shelf life.
The inversion syrup used in the production of paste skins such as Cantonese-style mooncakes not only provides sweetness and adjusts the hardness of the dough, but also mainly manifests itself in the following aspects:
① Limits the formation of gluten during kneading:
② Increases the coloring of mooncakes when baking;
③ Speeds up the softening and oil return of finished products;
④ Extends the shelf life of mooncakes. The mechanism that produces these effects is: the main components in invert syrup are glucose and fructose, which have strong hygroscopicity and moisturizing properties (especially fructose). When kneading, it can compete with the protein in the flour for water, causing gluten to form; during baking, it can also react with the amino acids in the protein in the Maillard reaction, thereby promoting coloring.
In the early stages of cooling and storage, it is easy to absorb the moisture in the filling, so that the mooncakes can soften quickly; at the same time, because they are simple sugars with small molecular weight and low viscosity, the oil has good fluidity in the cake skin and is easy to return oil; during storage, because they have a high osmotic pressure, they are also a natural antioxidant, which can inhibit the growth of microorganisms and the rancidity of oil, which can extend the shelf life of mooncakes.
It can be seen from this that the quality of mooncake syrup mainly depends on the content of fructose and glucose, that is, the conversion rate of the syrup after boiling.
The author has shown through repeated experimental studies that as long as the fructose and glucose contents in the syrup reach more than 22% and 25% respectively, the mooncakes can achieve satisfactory results.
In other words, under the traditional syrup boiling process, the conversion rate needs to reach more than 75%.
Although theoretically calculated, the concentration of sugar
syrup is 78%; as long as the conversion rate reaches 65%, it can meet the requirements. However, since the temperature of the syrup often exceeds 110°C when boiling sugar, the converted monosaccharides, especially fructose, are easily damaged and lost.
Therefore, it is difficult to achieve the goal in one step with the traditional sugar boiling process, that is, it can be used for mooncake production immediately after boiling. Otherwise, if the syrup is over-boiled, although the conversion rate can meet the requirements, the syrup will be exposed to high temperatures for a long time, which will not only damage the fructose and glucose, but also deepen the color of the syrup and produce too much caramel, which will seriously affect the quality of mooncakes
.
For this reason, experienced masters only boil the syrup to a certain extent (the conversion rate is about 65%-70% at this time), and then slowly cool it for fermentation.
Cool and leave it at room temperature for 15-20 days before use (actually after 30-40 days). During this process, the acid in the syrup can still be used to slowly convert the sugar to further increase the fructose and glucose content and meet the ideal requirements.
It is also important to point out that the concentration, acidity and color of moon cake syrup are also very important in the quality requirements.
Generally speaking, syrup with a concentration of 80%-85%, a pH value of above 3.5 that reflects acidity, and a light yellow or brown color is suitable. If the concentration of
is too high, it will be difficult to operate when making cakes, and if it is too low, the amount of syrup added when preparing the dough will be too small, causing many quality problems, such as generating too much gluten, affecting the color of the cake crust, and quickly returning oil to softness; if the acidity is too high (the pH value is small), too much water will be added. The above problems will occur; if the color is too dark, it will be difficult to control the "heat" when baking mooncakes
In the past, the syrup used by companies was often homemade, but because the degree of boiling was often difficult to control, the syrup produced did not meet the requirements, and the quality of the syrup produced before and after was inconsistent, resulting in unstable mooncake quality.
Therefore, if we can choose finished moon cake special syrup with reasonable price, reliable quality
and stable parameters, it will be a very effective way to solve this problem.
Teacher Du Dechun solves the problem of 100,000 mooncakes. Why? How to make
skin beautiful in appearance and fragrance? How to make
stuffing look delicious and delicious?
How to preserve and resist oxidation in mooncakes?
How to match the processing optimization design of various recipes for mooncake crust fillings?
How to match different types of equipment and processes with different formulas of oil%, syrup%, alkaline water, %, etc.?
Du Dechun:
Beijing-style mooncake process formula technology system engineering chief engineer Ph.D.;
Cantonese mooncake process formula technology system engineering chief engineer Ph.D.;
Soviet-style mooncake process formula technology system engineering chief engineer Ph.D.;
Chinese mooncake process formula technology system engineering chief engineer Ph.D.
