Glucose syrup by starch hydrolysis
Jarabe de glucosa por hidrólisis del almidón
- Date
- 1811 · confidence medium
- Place
- Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Credited to
- Konstantin Kirchhoff
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Kirchhoff discovered that boiling starch with dilute sulphuric acid converts it into a sweet sugar, glucose. It was used as a sugar substitute during the Continental Blockade and is the origin of corn syrup.
Discovered in 1811 at the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences; industrialisation came later.
What it led to
- industrial glucose syrups
- confectionery and beer manufacture
- high-fructose corn syrup (1960s)