Where do corn oil and corn syrup come from?

With some grains and nuts it is very easy to see where the oil comes from. For example, if you squeeze a sesame seed or a sunflower seed between two sheets of paper, you can see the oil. Corn isn't quite that oily, but it does contain oil.

A kernel of corn has an outerhusksurrounding a white or yellow starchy substance. At the core of the starchy substance and toward the pointy end of the kernel is thegerm. The germ contains a small amount of oil. If you cut a popcorn kernel in half, you can see the husk, starch and germ. If you cut out the tiny piece of germ and squeeze the germ on a piece of paper, you will see the oil!

Corn starchcomes from the starchy part of the corn. You are right that corn contains no syrup directly -- the syrup is made from the starch. In the articleHow Food Works, you learn about starch. Starch is a long-chain carbohydrate -- apolysaccharide. A polysaccharide is simply a collection of glucose molecules chained together. Inside the stomach, a polysaccharide is cleaved into its individual glucose molecules byenzymesso the glucose can enter thebloodstream.

To make玉米糖浆, enzymes are added to corn starch, and it is turned into a syrupy mixture of glucose, dextrose and maltose.