{"id":18203,"date":"2022-10-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-10T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=18203"},"modified":"2022-11-02T12:51:01","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T11:51:01","slug":"what-is-the-maillard-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/2022\/10\/11\/what-is-the-maillard-reaction\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Maillard reaction?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the Maillard reaction?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

DAVID WALKER, VIA EMAIL<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Often described as non-enzymatic browning, the Maillard reaction gives a wide range of cooked foods their appealing flavours and colours. Sped along by heat, the Maillard reaction is actually a series of reactions, starting with one between protein and a reducing sugar, such as glucose or fructose. The reactions produce flavour chemicals and browning in foods including fried onions, toast, steak and roasted coffee. <\/p>\n\n

French chemist Louis Camille Maillard first reported the reaction between proteins and sugars in 1912. In recent decades, scientists have unearthed more of Maillard\u2019s detailed mechanisms. <\/p>\n\n

When heat hits food, sugars react with the amino acids that make up proteins to form glycosylamine. This unstable chemical rearranges to create a ketosamine, setting off a cascade of further reactions to produce hundreds of new substances, some of which contribute to flavour and aroma. These includes pyrazines, which have a toasted flavour, along with meaty furans and sweet furanones. Finally, the reaction creates large polymer molecules called melanoidins, which give a brown colour. <\/p>\n\n

In order to obtain Maillard products in a short time, the temperature should exceed 100\u00baC, with an ideal range between 110\u00baC and 170\u00baC. If the temperature is too high, then bitter flavours can develop. <\/p>\n\n

A downside of the Maillard reaction is that it creates a carcinogen called acrylamide as a by-product. Levels of this increase with longer cooking times. ED <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

Email your questions to<\/span>
questions@sciencefocus.com<\/a>
or submit on Twitter<\/span>
@sciencefocus<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

ILLUSTRATION: DANIEL BRIGHT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the Maillard reaction? DAVID WALKER, VIA EMAIL Often described as non-enzymatic browning, the Maillard reaction gives a wide range of cooked foods their appealing flavours and colours. Sped along by heat, the Maillard reaction is actually a series of reactions, starting with one between protein and a reducing sugar, such as glucose or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":18581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"79","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"79","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_79-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_79-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"October-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"October-2022","purple_external_id":"October-2022-79-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"October-2022-79-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000089659||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000089659||","purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue383","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue383.2","purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue383","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue383.2","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"0f422ad1-c939-476d-9f82-a410052ad4c3","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-10-11T10:39:58Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"b9156488-375a-4a87-b31e-8cc41ec09a41","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-10-12T08:57:44Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AuRVkiDdaSoezHozEHsCaQQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[30],"tags":[15],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/10\/Maillard_1_preview.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/10\/Maillard_1_preview.jpg",1157,1181,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/10\/Maillard_1_preview-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/10\/Maillard_1_preview-294x300.jpg",294,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/10\/Maillard_1_preview-768x784.jpg",768,784,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/10\/Maillard_1_preview-1003x1024.jpg",800,817,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/10\/Maillard_1_preview.jpg",1157,1181,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/10\/Maillard_1_preview.jpg",1157,1181,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"What is the Maillard reaction? DAVID WALKER, VIA EMAIL Often described as non-enzymatic browning, the Maillard reaction gives a wide range of cooked foods their appealing flavours and colours. Sped along by heat, the Maillard reaction is actually a series of reactions, starting with one between protein and a reducing sugar, such as glucose or…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18203"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19526,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18203\/revisions\/19526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}