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Saturated and Supersaturated Sugar Solutions
Appears in
By Culinary Institute of America
Published 2015
Saturation and supersaturation are vital concepts for the confectioner, as they are directly linked with the process of crystallization. At a given temperature, a specific quantity of water can dissolve only a finite quantity of sugar. The warmer the water, the more sugar it can dissolve.
When no more sugar can be dissolved in a certain amount of water at a certain temperature, the solution is said to be saturated. When a saturated solution is then heated to evaporate some of the water, the solution becomes supersaturated. Supersaturated solutions contain a higher concentration of sugar than could have been initially dissolved in the same amount of water. Supersaturated solutions are delicate systems. Sugar molecules are attracted to each other, and with so many of them in such a small amount of liquid, they are quite likely to join together. This action results in the formation of crystals.