Why do high calorie foods like table sugar, honey, chocolate, jams and spreads have such a long shelf life instead of teeming with bacteria after a few days?

Question

Why do high calorie foods like table sugar, honey, chocolate, jams and spreads have such a long shelf life instead of teeming with bacteria after a few days?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Not all high calorie foods are created equal. Your example of table sugar, honey, chocolate, jams, and spreads are all high sugar (or basically all sugar) items. Sugar is hygroscopic which means that it absorbs water from its environment which includes bacteria. Bacteria cannot survive without moisture and basically collapse when it is removed (similar to how salt is a food preservative).

So the things you listed basically do not allow the growth of bacteria because they absorb the moisture required for bacteria to grow and live.