What exactly is malt and why does it have a unique taste?
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Malt is grains that have begun the sprouting process. An important part.ofnthe sprouting process is converting the starch in the seed into easily useable sugar. An enzyme called amylase converts starches to sugars. Which the plant can then use as energy to grow before it has leaves and can do photosynthesis.
As humans we can exploit this by starting the sprouting process by putting grains in a dark damp environment. Then, as soon as they start sprouting we can dehydrate them (but NOT heat them) to stop the process without denaturing the enzymes. This is typically what brewers will buy. It is called malted grains.
Now malting, historically has almost always been in service of making alcohol. You turn grain into sugar that yeast can eat. The result is alcohol/beer. However during prohibition in the USA. Malters were not made illegal, but the use of their product was. So they came up with alternatives. They extracted the sugar from their malt. And you end up with malt sugar. Which has different tastes and characteristics to cane or corn sugar.
Malt became a popular food and candy additive during prohibition. Malted milk balls like Whoppers became popular. Malted milk shakes, that is, milk, cream, and malt sugar whipped into a frozen treat, became popular. Malt sodas were even a thing, but those died off. Finally there’s things like meal replacement drinks, like Horlicks and Ovaltine. Because malt sugar, like all sugar, is pretty high in calories.
Anyway, to this day malt is critical in the beer making process. And since prohibition it’s started being used in distilling mash bills. So it’s still important in the beer and liquor making world. Malted sweets have definitely seen a decline in popularity. But they’re still around.
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