Enzymatic production of high fructose syrup from Agave tequilana fructans and its physicochemical characterization

Abstract

The conditions for producing high fructose syrup from the fructans contained in the head of the Agave tequilana Weber var. blue were determined and their physicochemical properties were compared with those of commercial corn syrup (Frudex-55®). Both syrups behave as Newtonian fluids and showed no significant differences (p < 0.05) in density, moisture, water activity, total solids, total reducing sugars and direct reducing sugars. It takes 4.4 kg of fresh agave head to obtain 1 kg of syrup with 70°Brix and 87.92 ± 1.28% fructose. As a result of its highest fructose-glucose ratio, agave syrup has lower viscosity and surface tension than the corn syrup. Due to its high content of fructans, the head of the A. tequilana Weber var. blue is a promising raw material for the industrial production of high fructose syrups.

Key words: Syrup, fructose, fructans, Agave tequilana, inulin, inulinase.