Hydrolysis

Hydrolysis literally ‘splitting by water’, a chemical reaction in which the large, complex molecules of proteins and carbohydrates are broken into smaller molecules. This is one of the fundamental processes of both cooking and digestion.

The single sugar molecules of which carbohydrates are composed, and the amino acids which make up proteins, are linked end to end by a comparatively weak bond involving just one atom on each side. The linking force is electric: one of the atoms has a positive charge, the other a negative one. Opposite charges attract each other, holding the bond together.