What is sucrose?
Sucrose is also called “table sugar” and “cane sugar.” It is a disaccharide which is composed of one molecule of glucose and one of fructose. More precisely, it is dextrose plus levorotatory fructose. It must be broken apart before the yeasts can use it. When heated in an acidic solution the sugar is inverted to make D (+)-glucose and D (-)-fructose. Yeasts will invert the sucrose if it is not already in that form before using by using invertase. It is derived from sugar beets or sugar cane which are crushed and dissolved in water. The raw syrup is boiled down to concentrate it to a point where some fraction crystallizes. The remaining heavy syrup (see molasses) is separated from the 95+% pure sugar. The crystals are then further processed several times to increase its purity which eventually yields the pure white crystals we commonly use. Some other commonly used sugars are also produced during the processing. This simple colorless sugar can be completely fermented.
