In message <[log in to unmask]>, Robert Mann <[log in to unmask]> writes >>The result is a more stable, higher-solid product which increases the >>efficency of the ripening process. >The sucrose molecule is split, by adding a water molecule's constituent 3 >atoms (a process called hydrolysis), to produce one molecule of glucose and >one of fructose. > I can make little of the final sentence in the quote. Sucrose is >not inherently unstable under the conditions of ripening; and 'the >efficiency of the ripening process' means little to me; it sounds as if >written by an economist. I wonder if the original statement referred to the removal of one molecule of water per molecule of sucrose which means less for the bees to remove by evaporation. -- James Kilty