What it does
Three separate jobs. It browns, through the Maillard reaction with protein, faster than sucrose does because it is a reducing sugar. It feeds fermentation, which is why it appears in cured and fermented meat where a culture needs a substrate. And it carries, acting as the bulk in which a small quantity of something active is evenly dispersed. Its sweetness is lower than sucrose, which is often convenient rather than a limitation.
Where it works
Cured and fermented meat, bakery surfaces where colour is wanted, and as the carrier in almost every dry mixture.
Where it does not
Where browning is not wanted, it will brown anyway, and a product that scorches at the surface before it is cooked through is often being told something about its sugar rather than its oven. The monohydrate also carries water of crystallisation, which matters in a moisture sensitive dry mixture.
What it interacts with
Protein, through browning. Cultures, as substrate. Heat, which drives both.
