>
> >Interesting that trehalose is insect blood sugar (ours is glucose).
> I've just never seen it mentioned outside of that context.


Ditto here!

But a quick search found:

"Trehalose, a non-toxic disaccharide of glucose, is responsible for the
remarkable survival of a group of inconspicuous and little known desert
organisms, called cryptobionts, which can desiccate totally during drought
and yet recover completely when rehydrated. Our recent work has shown that
this protection against desiccation damage can be reproduced in vitro when
biomolecules are dried in the presence of this simple sugar. Trehalose
drying technology has been utilised in a number of health care,
pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications, where it has enabled the
development of novel, robust and versatile formats.

"When added to foods prior to air drying, trehalose completely protects the
foods from denaturation and also prevents loss of aromatic volatiles that
give fresh foods their characteristic aromas and flavours. Furthermore, the
addition of trehalose, a very stable non-reducing sugar, results in the
inhibition of intrinsic Maillard reactions during the processing and
storage of dried food products. Thus, besides the benefits of stability and
reduction in bulk, common to other dried food products, trehalose-dried
foods also contain less toxic by-products and have a higher nutritional
content than conventionally processed foods."

Colaco (1994) Trehalose-a multifunctional additive for food preservation.

Funny how the food industry can invisibly start using something without the
public being aware.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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