Rice Syrup

Rice syrup, also called brown rice syrup or rice malt, is a sweetener rich in sugars derived from rice. Traditionally it is made by steeping cooked rice starch with saccharifying enzymes from sprouted barley grains to break down the starches, then straining and reducing the liquid with heat, while modern industrial production uses purified bacterial or fungal enzyme isolates on rice with the protein and other components removed before enzymatic conversion into simple sugars. The finished syrup typically contains 65 to 85 percent maltose, 10 to 15 percent maltotriose, 5 to 20 percent dextrins and only 2 to 3 percent glucose, and is free of protein, fiber and lipid. It sweetens drinks such as rice milk and is sold widely in western Chinese grocery stores, though it carries a glycemic index of 98, higher than table sugar's 65, a 2012 study found it can carry significant arsenic levels, and it keeps for about a year.