# Possible for a consumer to buy High Fructose Corn Syrup? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125 "2012-07-23T12:57:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Vicullum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/6de8d8/32.png) [@Vicullum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicullum)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/1 "2012-07-23T12:57:27Z")
Given how manufacturers cram this into every food imaginable nowadays it seems like it’d be just the thing to incorporate into my home-cooking. And yet, I’ve never seen a bottle of it available at any store, nor have I had any luck finding it online. Is it possible for the average consumer to get their hands on this stuff? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/2 "2012-07-23T13:03:43Z")
Isn’t that the stuff the sell as “corn syrup”? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/3 "2012-07-23T13:06:02Z")
Yep. Been on the shelves for at least 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![Vicullum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/6de8d8/32.png) [@Vicullum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicullum)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/4 "2012-07-23T13:10:48Z")
Actually, no, it’s [not the same.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_syrup) > [@](#): > > Corn syrup is distinct from high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is created when corn syrup undergoes enzymatic processing, producing a sweeter compound that contains higher levels of fructose. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/5 "2012-07-23T13:12:41Z")
Beaten by **Vicullum**. nm ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/6 "2012-07-23T13:14:08Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Isn’t that the stuff the sell as “corn syrup”? As mentioned, no. Karo syrup, for example, is not high-fructose corn syrup. The “high fructose” modifier is there to distinguish it from regular corn syrup. Here’s [Karo’s](http://karosyrup.com/faq.html) FAQ: > [@](#): > > Corn syrup is a sweetener derived from fresh corn picked and processed at its peak state of flavor and sweetness. This is in all Karo Corn Syrup products used for baking sold in retail stores. By contrast, high fructose corn syrup starts with regular corn syrup, which is modified by further processing and treated with enzymes to break it into two different forms of sweetness, fructose and glucose. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/7 "2012-07-23T13:29:15Z")
I’ll have to look, but I’m not even sure if I’ve seen HFCS at the restaurant supply stores I’ve been to. If it’s available to the consumer, you might be able to find it at a candy making supply store. I’ve heard honey is similar, so you might be able to substitute agave syrup which will have less flavor then honey. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/8 "2012-07-23T14:22:56Z")
> [@](#): > > …and treated with enzymes to break it into two different forms of sweetness, fructose and glucose. It sounds like it’s partially pre-digested. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/9 "2012-07-23T14:28:34Z")
What’s wrong with partially digested foodstuffs? I, for one, find honey delicious and not at all off-putting. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/10 "2012-07-23T15:00:52Z")
Here’s one place you can buy [it](http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/469456900/High_Fructose_Corn_Syrup_in_Bulk.html). I just hope you need a metric ton of it… ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/11 "2012-07-23T15:15:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Corn syrup is a sweetener derived from fresh corn picked and processed at its peak state of flavor and sweetness. This is in all Karo Corn Syrup products used for baking sold in retail stores. By contrast, high fructose corn syrup starts with regular corn syrup, which is modified by further processing and treated with enzymes to break it into two different forms of sweetness, fructose and glucose. I’ve got another issue with this - it makes it sound as if corn syrup started as sucrose. I thought that corn didn’t produce much sucrose, compared to sugar cane or sugar beet; that corn syrup was mostly glucose already. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_syrup) appears to agree. So - it sounds like somebody writing the Karo syrup FAQ doesn’t know the relevant chemistry? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/12 "2012-07-23T15:26:45Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It sounds like it’s partially pre-digested. :eek: Digestion by definition means broken down into components: simple sugars, fatty acids, and amino acids. (Or sometimes intermediary products between the complex and simple.) There’s nothing odd or disgusting or non-edible about the components. Do you find fruit disgusting because the primary sugar in them is fructose? > [@chrisk](#): > > > [@Karo](#): > > > > Corn syrup is a sweetener derived from fresh corn picked and processed at its peak state of flavor and sweetness. This is in all Karo Corn Syrup products used for baking sold in retail stores. By contrast, high fructose corn syrup starts with regular corn syrup, which is modified by further processing and treated with enzymes to break it into two different forms of sweetness, fructose and glucose. > > I’ve got another issue with this - it makes it sound as if corn syrup started as sucrose. I thought that corn didn’t produce much sucrose, compared to sugar cane or sugar beet; that corn syrup was mostly glucose already. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_syrup) appears to agree. > > So - it sounds like somebody writing the Karo syrup FAQ doesn’t know the relevant chemistry? From that same Wiki link: > [@](#): > > The enzyme breaks the starch into oligosaccharides, which are then broken into glucose molecules by adding the enzyme glucoamylase, known also as “γ-amylase”. … The glucose can then be transformed into fructose by passing the glucose through a column that is loaded with the enzyme D-xylose isomerase, an enzyme that is isolated from the growth medium of any of several bacteria. Which is exactly what Karo claims. What’s the problem? It’s the unbelievably massive and near-total ignorance about the basics of food composition, the digestive process, and nutrition that gives me :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: every day. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/13 "2012-07-23T15:31:37Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > From that same Wiki link: > > Which is exactly what Karo claims. What’s the problem? No. Karo claimed that regular corn syrup is broken into ‘two different forms of sweetness, fructose and glucose’, implying that they were both there in the starting syrup and only needed to be separated. As I read the wiki link, it’s first talking about breaking starch apart into glucose, which is _part of the process_ of making ordinary corn syrup. Then there’s another process, which can be used to convert some of the separated glucose molecules into fructose. It’s not even terribly close to the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/14 "2012-07-23T16:50:53Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > No. Karo claimed that regular corn syrup is broken into ‘two different forms of sweetness, fructose and glucose’, implying that they were both there in the starting syrup and only needed to be separated. > > As I read the wiki link, it’s first talking about breaking starch apart into glucose, which is _part of the process_ of making ordinary corn syrup. Then there’s another process, which can be used to convert some of the separated glucose molecules into fructose. It’s not even terribly close to the same thing. I disagree. They’re using lay language but using it entirely correctly. Fructose \*is \*there in the starting syrup. It’s an isomer of glucose. Both are C[sub]6[/sub]H[sub]12[/sub]O[sub]6[/sub]. One is convertible to the other using enzymes. Separated is not a word they use; it’s a word you are wrongly imposing because you misunderstand their use of “break it into.” ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/15 "2012-07-23T16:59:48Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I disagree. They’re using lay language but using it entirely correctly. Fructose \*is \*there in the starting syrup. It’s an isomer of glucose. Both are C[sub]6[/sub]H[sub]12[/sub]O[sub]6[/sub]. One is convertible to the other using enzymes. Separated is not a word they use; it’s a word you are wrongly imposing because you misunderstand their use of “break it into.” Well, we’re getting deeply enough into chemistry nerd territory that we should probably agree to disagree very soon. Which I do, though I see your point. To me, just because the C[sub]6[/sub]H[sub]12[/sub]O[sub]6[/sub] is there does not mean that fructose is there or that what they started with can be ‘broken into’ fructose. If they’d mentioned ‘converting to fructose’ or ‘transforming to fructose’ then they’d have been perfectly correct, and using language that a layperson could understand. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-for-a-consumer-to-buy-high-fructose-corn-syrup/629125/16 "2012-07-23T17:04:36Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Do you find fruit disgusting because the primary sugar in them is fructose? What could possibly seem disgusting about munching on a gigantic ovary? 🆒