Temporal-Spatial Property of Small Molecular Sugars and Its Applications in the Processing and Storage of Sugar-Rich Foods: A Review

The physical properties of small molecular sugars, such as monosaccharides and oligosaccharides, are important to determine the processibility, storage stability, safety and nutritional value of sugar-rich foods. Temporal-spatial property, as a new parameter to describe the mobility of molecules or groups included in sugars when experiencing phase transition, has been proved to be related with the quality deterioration and the diffuse-limited reaction of sugar-rich foods. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the temporal-spatial property can provide a novel idea and technical means to guarantee the deep processing of small molecular sugars as well as to develop and construct the functional structure of sugar-rich foods. In this review, the origins of temporal-spatial property and its latest practical studies are reviewed. This review aims to provide a theoretical reserve for the development of temporal-spatial property and emphasised on the characterization quantity of such property based on thermodynamic approach—Strength value. Meanwhile, the potential applications of the above parameter in moisture-proof, anti-crystallization, and the controlling of diffusive-limited reactions on sugar-rich foods are discussed. The main conclusions we summarized are of guiding significance for the improvement of the processability and storage stability on sugar-rich food.