The vichyssoise, for example, is thickened with diastatic malt powder.

Adding a small quantity of diastatic malt provides maltase and simple sugars to support the yeasts initially.

Historically, some producers used diastatic malt extract to "digest" some of the starch that existed in flour prior to baking.

Diastatic activity can also be provided by diastatic malt extract or by inclusion of separately-prepared brewing enzymes.

And added sugar is often disguised in food labelling under carbohydrates and myriad different names, from glucose to diastatic malt and dextrose.

Diastatic malt contains enzymes that break down starch into sugar; this is the form bakers add to bread dough to help the dough rise and create a good crust.

Diastatic malt extracts are made from the aqueous extract malted barley and are supplied as an 80-82% solids viscous liquid or as an hygroscopic band dried powder.

Montgomerie claimed a novel saccharification process which involved warming a portion of dough mixed with diastatic malt extract to an appropriate mash temperature and holding it for a time so the extract's enzymes would pre-digest some of the starch.

This type of malt syrup is not enzymatic, as some malt powders are (known as diastatic malt because the diastase enzymes from the barley are still active), but is considered non-diastatic (the enzymes are denatured, or destroyed, by the heat that turns the syrup dark).