Boiling sugar water in the microwave

[Mike Nolan]

I was making some nectar for feeding hummingbirds and the instructions in the feeder say that boiling it in the microwave changes the sugar.

I've been making cooked sugar candies for decades, and while it is challenging to do it in the microwave (because the sugar can go from just right to overcooked in seconds), I've never seen any cooking sites that said cooking sugar in the microwave changes it.

Anybody know of a source that authenticates this?

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[cwcdesign]

With your challenge, I had to google it. I found this site
http://kitchenscience.sci-toys.com/heating
With the headline "Your Mother was a Chemist." And, all the detail looks like it's right up your alley. I have not read the whole thing but it does have a 2016 copyright. there's lots of pictures of molecules and mention of the Maillard reaction.

[Mike Nolan]

That's a very interesting site, one I'll have to peruse at length. I'm not sure it answers the question of why boiling sugar water in the microwave would produce something different than boiling sugar water on the stove, though. (Maybe my original post wasn't completely clear on that, though.)

[cwcdesign]

It may have been my not reading it clearly 🙂 it's been a long week

[BakerAunt]

I don't know about sugar water, but I recall a friend who would not use the microwave for heating water for tea, since she said that it "took the air out." Her father had been in the tea business, so I assumed that she had a reason for her statement. Judith was British, and she was precise in her tea brewing.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Mike Nolan]

I was introduced to tea at an early age by a British family who took their tea very seriously. How you brew it does make a difference, though I'm not quite the fanatic some people are.

I never did develop their taste for watercress sandwiches, though.

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