Comments on: Chemistry of Cooking: The Maillard Reaction http://www.thefoodicook.com/chemistry-of-cooking-the-maillard-reaction/ Cooking Blog with a man's take on cooking, healthy food, and nutrition. Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:37:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Nate O http://www.thefoodicook.com/chemistry-of-cooking-the-maillard-reaction/comment-page-1/#comment-3363 Nate O Sat, 06 Aug 2011 15:57:57 +0000 http://www.thefoodicook.com/chemistry-of-cooking-the-maillard-reaction/#comment-3363 "So what is the Maillard Reaction? It is the reaction which caramelizes sugars in food to turn it brown. The most straightforward example is the creation of actual caramel from sugar." This isn't really correct. Caramelising sugar is NOT a Maillard reaction. Maillard reactions occur between amino acids and reducing sugars. Sucrose is not a reducing sugar. This confusion is due to one part of Maillard reactions appearing similar to caramelisation, in that a reducing sugar loses a water molecule and undergoes further dehydration. The difference is that the dehydration is catalysed by an amino acid, and the resultant compound subsequently undergoes Amadori rearrangement and Strecker degradation, to name just a few pathways. "This all doesn’t really start to happen until around 230 degrees and continues on up past 300." This is also incorrect. While high temperatures will increase the rate of reaction, Maillard reactions will happen at any non-freezing temperature, while caramelisation will only happen at high temperatures. “So what is the Maillard Reaction? It is the reaction which caramelizes sugars in food to turn it brown. The most straightforward example is the creation of actual caramel from sugar.”

This isn’t really correct. Caramelising sugar is NOT a Maillard reaction. Maillard reactions occur between amino acids and reducing sugars. Sucrose is not a reducing sugar.

This confusion is due to one part of Maillard reactions appearing similar to caramelisation, in that a reducing sugar loses a water molecule and undergoes further dehydration. The difference is that the dehydration is catalysed by an amino acid, and the resultant compound subsequently undergoes Amadori rearrangement and Strecker degradation, to name just a few pathways.

“This all doesn’t really start to happen until around 230 degrees and continues on up past 300.”

This is also incorrect. While high temperatures will increase the rate of reaction, Maillard reactions will happen at any non-freezing temperature, while caramelisation will only happen at high temperatures.

]]> By: EJ Pilo http://www.thefoodicook.com/chemistry-of-cooking-the-maillard-reaction/comment-page-1/#comment-1172 EJ Pilo Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:31:00 +0000 http://www.thefoodicook.com/chemistry-of-cooking-the-maillard-reaction/#comment-1172 Incredibly helpful explanation - Thanks! Incredibly helpful explanation – Thanks!

]]> By: Muhammad Nasir Masood http://www.thefoodicook.com/chemistry-of-cooking-the-maillard-reaction/comment-page-1/#comment-55 Muhammad Nasir Masood Sun, 06 Apr 2008 13:03:04 +0000 http://www.thefoodicook.com/chemistry-of-cooking-the-maillard-reaction/#comment-55 Very nice! Very nice!

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