Malt syrup (malt extract, organic?, raw?)

Barley malt is the basis of malt syrup. If the product contains other types of grain, these must be clearly declared. Malt syrup is also available in organic quality and as a gluten-free variant, but is never raw.

Uses in the kitchen

What is malt syrup, what is malt extract and what is barley malt extract? Is barley malt vegan? Is barley malt extract vegan?

Malt syrup is vegan, but due to the kilning and other processing, it is not raw in the sense of raw food. It is a malty-tasting, viscous, mostly yellowish to brownish syrup with a typical taste reminiscent of caramel. Extract from grain malt or malt extract are just other names for malt syrup. In addition to baking, malt syrup is also used as a spread, as a sweetener or for making sweets. Barley malt extract comes from barley malt, which contains much more starch than sugar: the starch is converted into a sugar extract during the malting process of grain. Barley malt or rye malt etc. must nevertheless be distinguished from malt sugar.

Malt sugar, or maltose, is a disaccharide consisting of two glucose molecules. It is formed during the malting process, but is more specific than malt syrup. Maltose can be isolated from malt syrup or produced by the enzymatic conversion of starch into glucose and then into maltose. Unlike malt sugar, malt syrup is more complex in composition and contains several different types of sugar. The terms malt sugar and malt syrup are often used synonymously; however, there is a subtle but important difference: malt sugar is the colloquial term for maltose. While malt syrup can also contain other types of sugar such as fructose.

The dried powder form of malt extract is usually used as a baking agent. In bread and baked goods, the powder improves the baking, crumb and crust properties. The aroma of the baked goods is mainly created by the effect of heat, i.e. by caramelization and the parallel Maillard reaction (non-enzymatic browning). Barley malt is also used in the production of beer and whiskey (whisky) and is also used to make malt coffee (barley coffee).

What can you use as a substitute for baking malt? If you use liquid malt in recipes, you can replace it 1:1 with honey. Baking malt is particularly beneficial for yeast when baking, as it increases its activity. If you don't use baking malt, the process is a little slower. You can speed up the process with any other sugar.

your own (malt syrup) Do you want

Making to make your own malt syrup? You can make your own malt extract, although it is not an easy process: ¹ First you grind the grain (malt) that has been germinated briefly and then dried again. You can buy malt cheaply online, for example, or you can buy barley that you can germinate yourself and then dry. Wheat, rye, spelt, corn and even rice are also suitable for making malt syrup.

Mix a mash with water and leave it in the oven for a few hours at around 50°C. Increase the temperature of the mash in several steps, first to 63°C, then to 73°C, and leave the pot in the oven for 1 hour each time. Stir occasionally. Finally, heat to 78°C and leave the mash in the oven for around 20 minutes at 80°C. These high temperatures inactivate the enzymes contained in the mash. Care must be taken not to increase the temperature too quickly and to prevent the mash from burning.

The next step is lautering: Here you separate the liquid from the insoluble spent grains. For this you use a cloth, preferably made of linen.

The liquid is allowed to boil on the stove, stirring constantly. The liquid should reduce by about half so that you end up with a thick syrup. If you fill it into small screw-top jars or bottles while it is still hot, you have a good chance of it keeping for a long time.

Vegan recipe

Due to the Maillard reaction, which creates critical amounts of acrylamide at temperatures of 170 to 190 °C, we are not including a recipe tip here. In addition, we cannot recommend malt syrup as a healthy sugar alternative, even if barley malt syrup contains more vitamins and secondary ingredients than household sugar. Read more about this in the following chapters.

Purchasing - Storage

You can buy malt syrup all year round : in health food stores, organic shops, organic supermarkets (e.g. Denn's Biomarkt or Alnatura), drugstores, sometimes in pharmacies, but above all in online shops. The light to dark brown syrup is usually bottled in screw-top jars, bottles and sometimes in plastic or metal cans. Supermarkets such as Coop, Denner, Aldi, Lidl, Rewe, Edeka, Hofer, Billa, Spar, Volg or Migros rarely carry malt extract in their standard range.

If malt syrup is made from grains other than barley, this must be labelled. Buy organically produced malt syrup, because depending on the origin and type, various pesticides (including those that are already banned in your own country) or genetic engineering may be involved (although there are big differences here - from higher vitamin content to insecticidal proteins). ^25,26

The availability of malt syrup varies depending on the size of the store, catchment area, etc. Our recorded food prices for the DA-CH countries can be found above under the ingredient image - and by clicking you can see their development at various suppliers.

Storage tips

Purchased barley malt syrup has a very long shelf life when hygienically packaged and airtight. After opening, you should always make sure that the syrup is not contaminated with food residue, water or saliva (licked spoon). ^{2, 12} Store malt syrup in a cool place away from light. Homemade malt extract is best stored in the refrigerator and used quickly.

Ingredients - Nutritional values - Calories

Malt syrup offers 318 kcal/100g. The syrup contains no fat and consists of 71 g/100g carbohydrates, of which 79.2% is sugar. Barley malt syrup contains mainly sugar in the form of maltose or malt sugar (at least 55%). Other types of sugar are sucrose with around 5%, dextrose and fructose with around 2% each and dextrins with around 13%. ¹³ The protein content of 12.4% is relatively high for a sweetener, the rest is water (around 21%). Malt syrup also contains vitamins such as niacin (B₃). The value of 8.1 mg/100g is similar to that of moringa powder or sunflower seeds. Brewer's yeast, for example, contains a lot of niacin with 57 mg/100g or yeast-based spice paste with 128 mg/100g. Niacin is important for the metabolism of protein, fat and carbohydrates. ³

Pyridoxine (B₆) is contained in malt extract at 0.5 mg/100g. Dried mango or quinoa have similar values and brewer's yeast contains a lot of this vitamin at 4.4 mg/100g. As a particularly important coenzyme, it is also involved in protein metabolism and the breakdown of glycogen. ³

We normally get enough phosphorus from our diet. Nevertheless, it is an essential element and is involved in many reactions in the body. Malt extract contains 236 mg/100g phosphorus, which is similar to corn flour or tofu. With 1,650 mg/100g, hemp seeds have a lot of natural phosphorus. ³

Malt extract also contains amino acids such as tryptophan (100 g contain 30% of the daily requirement), threonine and valine, and traces of magnesium, potassium, calcium and sodium are detectable. ³

Please note that the ingredients can vary greatly depending on the type of grain. If you make your own malt syrup, the vitamin content can also be significantly reduced. Long cooking destroys or changes many of the ingredients. In industrial processes, the water is removed more gently using a vacuum evaporator.

Compared to malt sugar, malt syrup is lower in calories and richer in nutrients, and therefore healthier.

Niacin, pyridoxine and tryptophan are the most important essential micronutrients in malt syrup. However, because the amount consumed is so small, they do not contribute significantly to meeting the daily requirement. Far more interesting for its health value are the secondary plant substances in this ingredient, which can have an effect even in trace amounts. However, it is (probably) the high sugar content that has the greatest impact on health.

The complete ingredients of malt syrup, the coverage of the daily requirement and comparison values with other ingredients can be found in our nutrient tables. In the article Nutrients explained you will get a detailed insight into the topic.

Effects on health

Is malt syrup healthy? Is barley malt extract sugar the same as other sugars? Is barley malt unhealthy? What effect does barley malt extract have (blood sugar)?

Sugar is our fuel and we need it to perform many functions in our body. On the other hand, sugar or excessive consumption of it has negative effects on our health, from tooth decay and diabetes to increased mortality. ²²

How this problem is to be understood and how it can be solved has not yet been fully clarified scientifically. However, there are indications that sugar in combination with secondary plant substances, fiber and other substances (?) makes for better sugar consumption: whether you eat sugar in refined or unrefined form (e.g. fruit) could make a big difference. ²³

Sugar is found in all foods that contain carbohydrates, such as fruit, vegetables, grains or dairy products. Whole foods contain many other valuable ingredients in addition to sugar. The body metabolizes the sugar slowly, providing a consistent energy supply. In addition, eating lots of fruit, vegetables and other whole foods is associated with a reduced risk of diabetes, cancer or heart disease.

Adding extra sugar to foods, such as malt syrup, can lead to increased blood pressure, inflammation, obesity, diabetes and fatty liver disease, depending on the amount. The risk of stroke and heart attack also increases. ²⁴

Is barley malt extract healthy? - If you read the list of ingredients with the many vitamins and minerals, you might think that barley malt syrup is a healthy alternative to sugar. Used in small quantities, that may well be true. It should also be remembered that the sweetening power of malt extract is only half as strong as that of sucrose.

Barley malt extract is also a popular additive for making bread darker. However, this deceives consumers into thinking that the bread is healthy wholemeal. In addition to white flour, the bread only contains caramel coloring, sugar beet syrup and malt extract. In addition, bread is often not vegan because it is diluted with milk powder.

Secondary plant substances

Many of the health effects of malt syrup can be attributed to the secondary plant substances it contains. Our article on secondary plant substances provides an overview of the classification of substance groups, their occurrence in foods and possible effects on humans. Malt syrup contains the following secondary plant substances: Phenols. ¹⁴ Barley and barley malt contain: Phenolic acids (benzoic acid and cinnamic acid derivatives), proanthocyanidins, tannins, flavonols, chalcones, flavones, flavanones and phenolic amino compounds. Malt contains some of the secondary plant substances of barley, others are created and partly increased by malting. ¹¹

However, it should be noted that the composition of the secondary plant substances in malt syrup can vary depending on the production process, variety, time of harvest and growing conditions. Therefore, quantities are only of limited use and should only be understood roughly.

Dangers - Intolerances - Side effects

When exposed to heat, the sugars contained in malt syrup react in a way that intensifies the taste, color and aroma of foods (caramelization and Maillard reaction). Industry takes advantage of this and hides barley malt extract in many foods. In the non-enzymatic browning reaction (Maillard reaction), amine compounds (e.g. amino acids, peptides, proteins) react with sugar. At temperatures of around 120-190 °C, acrylamide is formed, which can have a mutagenic and carcinogenic effect (currently there is only clear evidence from animal experiments). Acrylamide can generally form when carbohydrate-rich foods such as potatoes and grains are heated to high temperatures. When baking, roasting and frying, acrylamide is formed as a by-product of the browning reaction (Maillard reaction). The substance can enter the body through food, the skin or breathing (e.g. through cigarette smoke) and is quickly distributed throughout the body. ⁵ If you want to avoid acrylamide for health reasons, you should avoid heating carbohydrate-rich foods (such as barley malt syrup) to high temperatures, i.e. frying and baking.

People with gluten sensitivity, gluten intolerance or celiac disease should avoid barley malt extract. Sometimes you can find gluten-free barley malt extract (vegan) produced using special processes. Demeter, for example, offers biodynamic liquid organic malt extract (vegan and gluten-free) made from barley. Look specifically for a note for gluten-free foods. There is also malt extract made from rice, which does not contain gluten.

In addition to baked goods and sweets, barley malt is also used to sweeten "unobtrusively" packaged muesli, snacks, ketchup and other convenience products. The World Health Organization ( WHO) recommends limiting the daily intake of free sugars (including maltose) to less than 5% of energy requirements. ⁴ Diabetics must be particularly careful with hidden barley malt extract. The glucose it contains causes blood sugar levels to rise very quickly.

The various names for sugary substances are very confusing for consumers. If you want to avoid sugar as much as possible, always read the ingredients list before buying. Look for the element '-syrup' (e.g. glucose syrup, fructose syrup) or '-ose' (e.g. glucose, fructose, lactose, raffinose ...), for example; but sweet whey powder, fruit juice, honey, malt extract, etc. are also sugar. Such additives are often "hidden" in baby food. Sugar consumption at the beginning of life is associated with sugar consumption in later phases of life. High sugar consumption is associated with obesity and tooth decay, among other things. Therefore, in Germany, these sugar additives were banned in 2020, at least in products for babies and toddlers. ⁶

Sugar substitutes (sweet-tasting sugar alcohols such as sorbitol E420, maltitol E965 or lactitol E966) or sweeteners (synthetically produced substitutes such as cyclamate E952, neotame E961, stevioglycosides or stevioside E960, xylitol E968 etc.) should also be used with caution as a substitute for barley malt syrup – the negative health effects are not fully understood. ⁷

Ecological footprint - animal welfare

Carboncloud, a climate information platform, gives a CO ₂ footprint of 4.26 kg CO ₂ eq/kg for malt extract powder. Of this, 1.03 kg CO ₂ eq/kg is the barley malt required. Processing and agriculture cause the majority of greenhouse gases. ¹⁵

According to ' All you can eat for climate ', malt extract has approximately 0.8 kg CO ₂ eq/kg. This makes this ingredient 50% higher than the average of the foods examined. ¹⁶

Even if malt syrup can be produced in a climate-friendly way, a comparison of the water footprint with other types of sugar shows a rather problematic ecological footprint. Despite extensive research, we were unable to find any figures for the water footprint of malt syrup, but we did find data on the ingredients: According to Mekonnen and Hoekstra, the global average for producing barley is 1423 l/kg. To produce malt from it, another 1950 l/kg is needed. Sugar plants only use 197 l/kg on average: sugar cane, for example, needs 210 l/kg; unrefined cane sugar uses 1666 l/kg, refined cane sugar uses 1782. Sugar beets only need 132 l/kg; raw sugar from beets only uses 865 l/kg. And the sweet food that uses the most water is fruit, with an average of 967 l/kg. ¹⁷ In many recipes, sugar syrup can be replaced with a grated apple; apples have a water footprint of 822 l/kg and a CO ₂ footprint of 0.2 kg CO ₂ eq/kg organic apples. ^17,18

The energy sources for the production process and cultivation methods of barley can strongly influence the ecological effects.

For detailed explanations of various sustainability indicators (such as ecological footprint, _CO2 footprint, water footprint), see our article: What does the ecological footprint mean?

Animal welfare - species protection

The intensification of agriculture, especially the use of pesticides, has had a strong negative impact on biodiversity. Organic farming has fewer negative effects on flora and fauna. However, animals that roam large areas, such as birds or butterflies, are also affected by pesticides if protected areas are available to them. ^19,20

Less than 0.1% of pesticides applied to agricultural land reach the target crop, while more than 99% enter the environment, posing risks to human health, soil, water and ecosystems. Pesticides can often persist in the environment for a long time - bans do not work overnight. ²⁵

Worldwide availability - cultivation

Malt syrup has a long history and is available worldwide in many different forms and applications. Its industrial production began in the 19th century, but its origins reach far back into human civilization. Today, malt syrup has a wide range of uses both industrially and in the home and is easily found in many countries. ²¹

Cultivation - Harvest

You can read more about the cultivation of barley HERE.

Industrial production

First, the cleaned grain, usually barley, has to germinate. Under controlled conditions (temperature and humidity), the grain germinates for around seven days. During this process, the enzyme amylase is created, which can convert starch into sugar. The process is stopped by drying (kiln drying). To make a syrup from the malt (germinated and dried grain), it is ground and mixed with water (mash). This creates a sugar syrup, which is then concentrated, boiled, filtered and finally bottled, depending on the recipe. Temperature control is crucial during this process, as different enzymes work optimally at different temperatures. The resulting malt syrup has a sweet taste that is used in particular in the baking and brewing industries. ¹³

Further information

Maltitol syrup sounds similar to malt syrup. Maltitol (E965) is a sugar substitute made from maltose (obtained from corn starch). This is usually added to low-calorie foods, desserts, ice cream, jam, chewing gum and pastries. It also serves as a humectant, sweetener and carrier and has no maximum limit in many foods. However, in larger quantities it is said to have a laxative effect. ⁸

Inactive malt extract should not be confused with enzymatically active malt, malt flour or baking malt. Low temperatures allow the enzymes to remain active and are used, for example, in baking to increase the leavening capacity of the dough. They are also called diastatic malt extracts because the enzymes they contain are diastases (alpha and beta amylases). ^{1, 9} These active malt extracts are also often available in liquid and dried form.

Malt extract is used as a nutrient medium in microbiology, e.g. in GYM Medium ¹⁰ as a nutrient for yeast cultures, as well as a gloss and humectant.

Alternative names

In addition to the spelling malt extract and malt syrup, you can also find malt extract, barley malt extract or barley malt. Inactive malt is sometimes also called coloring malt or roasted malt. In English, the terms 'barley malt syrup', 'barley malt extract' or simply 'malt syrup' are common. If rice is used, the product is called 'rice malt syrup'.