Barley Malt Syrup

Barley malt syrup is an unrefined sweetener extracted from sprouted, malted barley, a dark brown, thick and sticky substance with a malty flavor roughly half as sweet as white sugar, made up of about 65 percent maltose, 30 percent complex carbohydrates and 3 percent storage protein. Added to yeast dough it speeds fermentation through its own enzymes, and it is also used to brown bread, flavor manufactured cereal, and substitute for other sweeteners in malted drinks and candy. It was a primary sweetener alongside honey in China from around 1000 BCE to 1000 CE, with extraction methods recorded in the sixth-century text Qimin Yaoshu, and it still appears in traditional Chinese confections such as dragon's beard candy; commercial production began in the United States in the 1920s, prompted by sugar rationing during the First World War.