Trehalose

Trehalose is a naturally occurring sugar made of two glucose molecules joined together, found widely in plants, fungi and small animals such as insects and shrimp, and in foods including mushrooms and sunflower seeds. It is considerably less sweet than ordinary table sugar, with roughly half the sweetness at high concentrations and even less at lower ones, so it functions in food production more as a stabilizer and texture modifier than as a primary sweetener. Its main commercial use is in frozen foods such as ice cream, where it helps control ice crystal formation and lowers the freezing point, improving texture and shelf stability.