The Maillard Reaction

The complex bundle of flavors that arises when carrots are roasted in an oven, when buns are brushed with a whisked egg to form a shiny brown coat on baking, and when a cake bakes in an oven and acquires its delicious golden-brown top, all stem from the Maillard reaction, a process discovered by Louis-Camille Maillard. While similar to caramelization, which involves sugars and heat, the Maillard reaction is distinctly different. Here a new player jumps in: the amino acids present in proteins. In the Maillard reaction, special types of sugars called reducing sugars like glucose, fructose, maltose, and lactose react with amino acids, such as lysine, present in proteins and undergo a series of changes that produce a complex set of flavor substances.