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In Europe, the very large majority of glucose syrups are actually derived from wheat and thus not gluten-free, while corn syrup is gluten-free (as far as I understand). From this question, I learnt that golden syrup is actually a good substitute for corn syrup, and thus, I am wondering: is golden syrup gluten-free? Does it depend on the source of sugar used, i.e. cane vs. beet?

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2 Answers 2

up vote 8 down vote accepted

Golden syrup is indeed gluten free, as neither sugar cane or beet contains gluten. In fact, beet fibre is used in many gluten-free products. See the Tate & Lyle site for more information:

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And if you make it yourself, is there any indication to the sugar you should be using? For example, I understand that some brands of icing sugar use wheat-based additives, and thus are not gluten free. – F'x Apr 17 '12 at 15:20
@f'x how would you make it yourself? Also, all powdered sugar uses starch, there is no way to tell which one has wheat starch and which has starch from other sources. Don't use powdered/confectioner's sugar for gluten-free dishes. – rumtscho Apr 17 '12 at 15:22
You could make it yourself with unrefined caster sugar and citric or ascorbic acid. However, boiling sugar (and washing up the pot afterwards) is a lot of bother considering you can just buy it in a tin at your supermarket (one assumes). – ElendilTheTall Apr 17 '12 at 16:53
@rumtscho at least in France, golden syrup is not very common and one often makes it (I make it when I prepare cocktails, for example) – F'x Apr 17 '12 at 18:36

As an aside it is worth noting that glucose syrup is gluten free even if derived from wheat. The same goes for dextrose and caramel colour.

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