It is the sugar that is naturally present in fruits, vegetables and honey. It is higher in some fruits than others. 1 pound (450g) of apples, bananas, cherries, grapes or pears will have the equivalent of anywhere from 5 ½ to 8 teaspoons of Fructose sugar in it; swap in blackberries, blueberries, grapefruit, oranges or strawberries, and there’s only 2 to 3 teaspoons per pound (450g.)
Fructose is even found in human semen.
The commercial Fructose that you buy, though, doesn’t actually come from fruit at all: it is refined from cane sugar, beet sugar or corn syrup.
Fructose is 50% sweeter than sucrose, but loses its sweetness when heated or dissolved in a liquid.
It is available in powder and liquid.
The scientific formula for Fructose is C6 H12 O6.
Substitutes
Don’t swap in for regular sugar.
Nutrition
Fructose is not better for everyone as a concentrated sweetener substitute: some people experience allergic reactions to it, others find it increases any cholesterol issues they might have. (This does not apply to fruit, only to the artificially-high concentrations of Fructose as a manufactured product.)
Some health foodies are saying that Fructose is bad for the heart; the American Heart Association (as of 2002) says that Fructose is neither good nor bad as far as cardiovascular disease goes.
Fructose, though, is reputedly better for diabetics than sucrose, because it doesn’t trigger extreme insulin spikes.
Equivalents
½ cup of fructose powder = 1 cup of white sugar
History Notes
In the 1970s, the Finnish Sugar Company developed a method to efficiently extract and concentrate Fructose from cane and beet sugar .
Later, North American companies learned to do the same from corn.