... long before anybody knew of the existence of enzymes. One of the earliest references can be found in Homer's Greek poems dating from about 800 BC where he mentions the use of enzymes in the production of cheese. The starch industry has been using enzymes too for many years in the production of 'artificial' sweeteners. Although sucrose is readily available from the harvesting of cane or beet sugar, glucose and maltose need extracting from starch by enzymic or chemical extraction. Starch is a polymer where the individual units in the polymer are glucose molecules. Enzymes that degrade starch are called amylases. During both processes, chemical (typically acid-hydrolysis) and enzymic, glycosidic bonds between these ?-glucose molecules are hydrolysed leaving only single sub-units of glucose. However, in comparison with enzymic preparation, acid-hydrolysis tends to be costly and time consuming with the final yield often being of poor purity. The first use of ...

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