why do you need to analyze invert sugar in manufacturing syrup?

Question

Why and how to control it?

Answer 1

In the general vernacular, "sugar" is sucrose, which is a disaccharide made of one glucose molecule combined with one fructose molecule.  Invert (or inverted) sugar is where the sucrose has hydrolyzed into glucose and fructose.  T

 

Syrup (simple syrup) is simply sucrose dissolved in water.  So, if you are manufacturing syrup, you would want it to be unhydrolyzed sucrose, and not invert sugar.

 

The way to analyze for invert sugar would be the use of a simple polarimeter.  Sucrose (unhydrolyzed) will rotate the plane of polarized light to the right. As the formation of invert sugar takes place, the rotation to the right is reduced, and eventually, when all the sucrose is hydrolyzed, the rotation will be to the left (because fructose rotates more to the left than the glucose rotates to the right). 

 

The way to control the formation of invert sugar would be to prevent or control the hydrolysis of sucrose. This can be done by monitoring the temperature and not allowing the syrup to get warm.