pentosan

P3E1N1T1O1S1A1N1

noun

Any polysaccharide composed of pentoses.

Scrabble 10
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounpentosan (plural pentosans)

plural pentosans

  1. biochemistryAny polysaccharide composed of pentoses.

    Thanks to its pentosans, rye flour absorbs eight times its weight in water, while wheat flour absorbs two. Unlike starch, the pentosans don't retrograde and harden after being cooked and cooled. So they provide a soft, moist texture that helps gives rye breads a shelf life of weeks.

    2004, Harold McGee, chapter 9, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, Scribner, →ISBN

Translations

Italian pentosano
  • pentosanopolysaccharide composed of pentoses
Cite this entry
APA

pentosan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pentosan

MLA

“pentosan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pentosan. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pentosan,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pentosan.

Source: pentosan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.