Non-majors courses in food chemistry are increasingly common in the undergraduate curriculum. One topic in many courses is the Maillard reaction, a browning and taste-development reaction between reducing sugars and proteins. The Maillard reaction is responsible for the brown color of chocolate, coffee, browned meats, dark beers, bread crust, and other foods. In this presentation, the development of a laboratory experiment for the Maillard reaction is described. Egg white and gelatin solutions were combined with solutions of glucose, maltose, lactose, and sucrose, and the mixtures were heated in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes. No darkening was detected for the gelatin mixtures. However, the egg white and reducing sugar mixtures became noticeably darker. Glucose as a monosaccharide produced a darker solution than the disaccharides lactose and maltose, perhaps because of the difference in number of hemiacetal groups. Sucrose, not a reducing sugar, did not darken. The identity of the reducing sugars can be confirmed with Benedict’s reagent. The effect of solution acidity was investigated with egg white, glucose, and either vinegar, water, or baking soda solution; solutions with larger pH values produced darker solutions. Overall, the laboratory represents a low-cost and accessible entry into this chemistry.

Laboratory experiment demonstrating concepts of the Maillard reaction for an undergraduate non-majors food chemistry course

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