Sugars - Disaccharides
The sugar component of Golden syrup, Treacle and Molasses is the disaccharide Sucrose.
The values for Energy (kJ), Carbohydrate and sugar content were obtained from the nutritional information panel on the product purchased. Some of the values however appear to be incorrect. For example Palm sugar has been given an energy value of 1260 kJ/100g and contains 95.2 g of sugar/100g. Each gram of sugar contains 17 kJ. Multiplying 95.2 (the number of grams of sugar in Palm sugar) by 17 kJ gives us a value of 1618.4 kJ, this appears to be a more realistic number.
Table 2: A Comparison of Sugars commonly used in Baking
Name | Containing |
Energy kJ per 100g |
Carbohydrate per 100 g |
Sugar per 100 g |
GI |
Solid (S) or Liquid (L) |
Disaccharides |
||||||
Block palm sugar | Sucrose (mostly) | 1692 | 99.5 | 90.3 | S | |
Cane sugar (Table) | Sucrose | 1700 | 100 | 100 | 68 | S |
Caster sugar | Sucrose | 1700 | 100 | 100 | S | |
Coconut palm sugar |
~75% Sucrose remainder glucose & fructose |
1625 | 93.4 | 90.1 | 35 | S |
Dark brown sugar | Sucrose | 1649 | 96 | 96 | S | |
Dark Muscovado | Sucrose | 1615 | 94.4 | NA | S | |
Demerra | Sucrose | 1696 | 99.4 | 99.4 | S | |
Golden syrup | Sucrose | 1260 | 74 | 74 | L | |
Icing sugar | Sucrose | 1700 | 100 | 100 | S | |
Light brown sugar | Sucrose | 1670 | 98 | 98 | S | |
Light Muscovado | Sucrose | 1679 | 97.4 | NA | S | |
Maple syrup | Sucrose (mostly) | 1500 | 88 | 88 | 54 | L |
Molasses | Sucrose | 1179 | 68.8 | 68.8 | L | |
Molasses sugar | Sucrose | NA | NA | NA | S | |
Palm sugar |
~94% Sucrose, minor amounts of Glucose & Fructose |
1260 | 95.2 | 95.2 | <30 | S |
Rapadura | Sucrose | 1600 | 86 | 86 | S | |
Raw sugar | Sucrose | 1697 | 99.8 | 99.8 | S | |
Rice Malt syrup |
~45% Maltose ~52% Maltotriose & ~3% Glucose |
1370 | 80 | 55 | # | L |
Treacle | Sucrose | 1210 | 71 | 71 | L | |
Trisaccharides | ||||||
Rice Malt syrup |
~45% Maltose ~52% Maltotriose & ~3% Glucose |
1370 | 80 | 55 | # | L |
# The GI of Rice Malt syrup has been rumoured to be relatively low (various sites on the web). However the GI of maltose is 105, greater than that of glucose. Nearly half of the Rice Malt syrup is maltose and presumably has a corespondingly high GI. The other half of the syrup is maltotriose. During digestion maltotriose breaks down to maltose and glucose and then finally into 3 glucose units.
The three unrefined sugars are indicated by light blue text.
NA - Data was not available