Caramelization: was: Papaya seeds?

[Guest guest]

Most vegies get sweeter when cooked ... the starch

converts to sugars. Also some substances that

aren't very digestible raw become more so

after cooking, so you actually get more calories

from cooked vegies. Also when sugar breaks down,

you get more " little sugar " molecules, and therefore

sometimes more " sweetness " . I suppose you still

have, in an absolute sense, the same number of " grams "

of carbs, but the chemical composition of them is

much different.

" Caramelization is just such a process and one of the many changes taking place

during reduction. In a strict sense, caramelization refers to the melting of

simple table sugar and its resulting breakdown into 120 or so different

compounds. In a broader sense, however, caramelization can also refer to the

burning or breaking down of any sugars in foods. The searing of onions until

they are a deep rown as in " Roasted Sweet Onions " can be called " caramelizing

onions " .

-- " Cookwise " pg. 262

-- Heidi

>-

>

>According to the USDA, 100g of raw onions contains 10.11g of carbs,

>including a mere 4.28g of sugar, but if you make French Onion Soup the

>old-fashioned way -- cooking the onions in the stock for a long time -- the

>soup gets very sweet.

>

>>Onions, even when raw, contain alot of their own sugar,

>>and I don't think caramelization involves creating sugar.

>

>

>

>-

>

>