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Maltose
 
 
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Maltose, or malt sugar, is a disaccharide
Disaccharide

A disaccharide is a sugar composed of two monosaccharides.'Disaccharide' is one of the four chemical groupings of carbohydrates ....
 formed from two units of glucose
Glucose

Glucose , a monosaccharide also known as grape sugar, blood sugar, or corn sugar, is a very important carbohydrate in biology....
 joined with an a(1?4) linkage. It is the second member of an important biochemical series of glucose chains. The addition of another glucose unit yields maltotriose
Maltotriose

Maltotriose is a trisaccharide consisting of three glucose molecules linked with 1,4 glycosidic bonds.It is produced by the action of alpha amylase on amylose and starch due to the random manner in which alpha amylase hydrolyses a-1,4 glycosidic bonds....
; further additions will produce dextrin
Dextrin

Dextrins are a group of low-molecular-weight carbohydrates produced by the hydrolysis of starch. Dextrins are mixtures of linear a--linked D-glucose polymers starting with an a- bond....
s (also called maltodextrins) and eventually starch
Starch

File:Amylose2.svgFile:Amylopektin Sessel.svgStarch or amylum is a polysaccharide carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds....
.

Maltose can be broken down into two glucose molecules by hydrolysis
Hydrolysis

Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction during which one or more water are split into hydrogen and hydroxide ions which may go on to participate in further reactions....
. In living organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
s, the enzyme
Enzyme

Enzymes are biomolecules that catalysis chemical reactions. Almost all enzymes are proteins. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called Substrate , and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, the products....
 maltase
Maltase

Maltase is an enzyme produced by the cells lining the small intestine that breaks down the disaccharide maltose. It comes under the enzyme category carbohydrase ....
 can achieve this very rapidly.






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Encyclopedia


Maltose, or malt sugar, is a disaccharide
Disaccharide

A disaccharide is a sugar composed of two monosaccharides.'Disaccharide' is one of the four chemical groupings of carbohydrates ....
 formed from two units of glucose
Glucose

Glucose , a monosaccharide also known as grape sugar, blood sugar, or corn sugar, is a very important carbohydrate in biology....
 joined with an a(1?4) linkage. It is the second member of an important biochemical series of glucose chains. The addition of another glucose unit yields maltotriose
Maltotriose

Maltotriose is a trisaccharide consisting of three glucose molecules linked with 1,4 glycosidic bonds.It is produced by the action of alpha amylase on amylose and starch due to the random manner in which alpha amylase hydrolyses a-1,4 glycosidic bonds....
; further additions will produce dextrin
Dextrin

Dextrins are a group of low-molecular-weight carbohydrates produced by the hydrolysis of starch. Dextrins are mixtures of linear a--linked D-glucose polymers starting with an a- bond....
s (also called maltodextrins) and eventually starch
Starch

File:Amylose2.svgFile:Amylopektin Sessel.svgStarch or amylum is a polysaccharide carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds....
.

Maltose can be broken down into two glucose molecules by hydrolysis
Hydrolysis

Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction during which one or more water are split into hydrogen and hydroxide ions which may go on to participate in further reactions....
. In living organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
s, the enzyme
Enzyme

Enzymes are biomolecules that catalysis chemical reactions. Almost all enzymes are proteins. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called Substrate , and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, the products....
 maltase
Maltase

Maltase is an enzyme produced by the cells lining the small intestine that breaks down the disaccharide maltose. It comes under the enzyme category carbohydrase ....
 can achieve this very rapidly. In the laboratory, heating with a strong acid
Strong acid

A strong acid is an acid that ionizes completely in an aqueous solution , or in other terms, with a acid dissociation constant < -1.74. This generally means that in aqueous solution at standard temperature and pressure, the concentration of hydronium ions is equal to the concentration of strong acid introduced to the solution....
 for several minutes will produce the same result.

The production of maltose from germinating cereals, such as barley
Barley

Barley is an annual plant cereal grain derived from the grass Hordeum vulgare. It serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food, as well as the making of alcoholic beverages beer and whisky....
, is an important part of the brewing
Brewing

Brewing is the production of alcoholic beverages and alcohol fuel through fermentation . The term is used for the production of beer, although the word "brewing" is also used to describe the fermentation process used to create wine and mead....
 process. When barley is malt
Malt

Malting is a process applied to cereal grains, in which the grains are made to germinate by soaking in water and are then quickly halted from germinating further by drying/heating with hot air....
ed, it is brought into a condition in which the concentration of maltose-producing amylase
Amylase

Amylase is an enzyme that breaks starch down into sugar. Amylase is present in human saliva, where it begins the chemical process of digestion....
s has been maximized. Mashing
Mashing

In brewing and distilling, mashing is the process of combining a mix of milled grain , known as the "grain bill", and water, known as "liquor", and heating this mixture with pauses at certain temperatures to allow the enzymes in the malt to break down the starch in the grain into sugars, typically maltose to create a malty liquid called wo...
 is the process by which these amylases convert the cereal's starches into maltose. Metabolism of maltose by yeast
Yeast

Yeasts are eukaryote microorganisms classified in the Kingdom fungus, with about 1,500 species currently described; they dominate fungal diversity in the oceans....
 during fermentation then leads to the production of ethanol
Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatility , flammable, colorless liquid....
 and carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalent bond to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state....
.

Maltose as food


Plain maltose has a sweet taste, about half as sweet as glucose
Glucose

Glucose , a monosaccharide also known as grape sugar, blood sugar, or corn sugar, is a very important carbohydrate in biology....
 and about one-sixth as sweet as fructose
Fructose

Fructose is a simple Reducing sugar sugar found in many foods and is one of the three important dietary monosaccharides along with glucose and galactose....
.




In Southern China, Taiwan
Taiwan

Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong

Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
 and Macau
Macau

The Macau Special Administrative Region, , commonly known as Macau or Macao , is one of the two special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong....
, maltose is a common ingredient in confectionery
Confectionery

Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well....
. The most common way to consume it is to put a layer of maltose between two pieces of biscuits (usually crackers
Cracker (food)

A cracker is a type of biscuit that developed from military hardtack and nautical ship biscuits....
).


See also

  • Glucose
    Glucose

    Glucose , a monosaccharide also known as grape sugar, blood sugar, or corn sugar, is a very important carbohydrate in biology....
  • Maltase
    Maltase

    Maltase is an enzyme produced by the cells lining the small intestine that breaks down the disaccharide maltose. It comes under the enzyme category carbohydrase ....
  • Isomaltase
    Isomaltase

    Isomaltase is an enzyme which breaks the bonds linking saccharides, which cannot be broken by amylase or maltase. It digests polysaccharides at the alpha 1-6 linkages....


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