Fructose syrup is a liquid sweetener in which fructose, the fruit sugar, is the main sugar. Most commercial fructose syrups are made from starch, usually corn: enzymes turn the starch into glucose, and a second enzyme converts part of it into fructose. Depending on how far the process goes, the result lies somewhere between a glucose-rich syrup and an almost pure fructose syrup, and labels in different countries use slightly different names for the same family of products.
Bakers like it because fructose is sweeter than table sugar and attracts water strongly. That helps packaged cakes and filled pastries stay soft through a long shelf life, and fructose browns faster in the oven, giving an even golden colour.
Both products listed here come from the Turkish brand Today. The Today Snowball Cake With Milk Cream uses 6.6% fructose syrup next to glucose, while the chocolate, hazelnut and vanilla croissant pairs it with glucose syrup.
