Glucose syrup substitutes

The standard American equivalent, a starch-derived syrup with a similar thickness and near-neutral taste.

Best for

caramels, ganache, sorbet, ice cream, nougat, marshmallow, sugar work, fondant

For practical purposes this is the same ingredient with a different name on the bottle, which is exactly why French pastry recipes trip up American cooks who cannot find glucose. Corn syrup is very slightly sweeter and a little thinner, and it is a mixture of glucose with some longer sugar chains, so extremely precise confectionery work such as pulled sugar or isomalt-style showpieces can behave a touch differently. In every home application, caramel, ganache, sorbet, marshmallow, it performs identically. Use light corn syrup, not dark, which carries molasses.

A British inverted sugar syrup with a warm amber colour and buttery caramel flavour.

Best for

toffee, nougat, flapjacks, gingerbread, caramel sauce, brittle

Functionally excellent because it is an invert syrup and therefore genuinely prevents crystallisation, which is the whole point of glucose. The catch is flavour and colour: it tastes distinctly of caramel and butterscotch and it tints everything a warm gold. In a chewy caramel or a nougat that is a bonus. In a clear sugar glaze, a pale fruit sorbet or a white chocolate ganache it is obvious, turning the finished item beige and adding a flavour that competes with the fruit or the chocolate. It is also noticeably sweeter, so consider cutting the recipe's sugar by about ten percent.

Sugar simmered with water and a small amount of acid, which splits some of the sucrose and produces a syrup that resists crystallising.

Best for

sorbet, ice cream, ganache, caramels, fondant, cocktail syrups

The best option if you cannot buy any commercial syrup, and closer to real glucose than honey or maple in both taste and behaviour. Combine two cups sugar with three quarters of a cup of water and an eighth of a teaspoon of citric acid or a teaspoon of lemon juice, bring to a simmer, cover and cook gently for about twenty minutes, then cool. The result is clear, thick and almost neutral, with a very faint tartness from the acid. It is thinner than commercial glucose, so drain a tablespoon of liquid elsewhere in the recipe if the formula is tight.

A natural invert sugar that behaves similarly in the pan but tastes strongly of itself.

Best for

nougat, brittle, granola bars, caramel sauce, sorbet where honey is welcome

Chemically well suited, because honey is largely glucose and fructose already and it genuinely stops crystals forming. The problem is that you can always taste it. In torrone or a honey nougat that is traditional and lovely. In a neutral ganache or a raspberry sorbet the honey flavour sits on top of the fruit and reads as a mistake. Honey also browns considerably faster than glucose, so anything baked or cooked to temperature will darken sooner and can catch, and a caramel made with it will taste more bitter at the same colour.

Two milder liquid sweeteners that are closer to neutral than honey.

Best for

sorbet, ganache, no-bake fillings, cold syrups, vegan confectionery

Agave is very neutral in flavour, which is its advantage, but it is mostly fructose, so it is much sweeter than glucose and it browns aggressively when heated, making it a poor choice for anything cooked to a hard-crack stage. Brown rice syrup is the more interesting option: it is genuinely glucose-based, thick, only mildly sweet with a faint malty note, and it behaves well in caramels and nougat. Rice syrup is also stickier and stiffer straight from the jar, so warm it before measuring.

The last-resort version, adding acid so the sugar you already have partly inverts in the pan.

Best for

caramel sauce, simple syrups, toffee, candied nuts

This works only in recipes that involve cooking sugar with liquid, where the acid has time and heat to do its job. It will not work in a no-cook ganache or a chilled sorbet base, because nothing inverts. Be honest about the risk: this is the version most likely to give you a grainy caramel or a sorbet that turns icy after two days in the freezer, because you are relying on partial inversion rather than a syrup that is already there. Use it when you have no alternative, and do not use it for pulled sugar or anything where crystallisation is fatal.