ABSTRACT
In this paper， the name， varieties， raw materials and manufacturing technology of maltose in the famous classical formulas were researched by consulting the herbal medicines， medical books， prescription books and modern literature of past dynasties， which provided the basis for the development and utilization of formulas containing maltose. Through textual research， it can be seen that the name of maltose has been derived from its shape， texture， preparation method， raw materials and producing area. In ancient times， maltose was mainly divided into soft and hard types according to the texture. Those who are wet and soft as honey are called "syrup" or "jelly"， while those who are hard and white are called "malt" and "sugar". In modern times， they are mostly called malt sugar， only jelly is used as medicine， and malt is mostly used as food. Throughout the ages， medicinal maltose were made of Oryza sativa var. glutinosa as the raw material and Hordeum vulgare as malt， prepared by fermenting， decocting and concentrating. The maltose made from other cereals such as Setaria italica var. germanica， Panicum miliaceum is slightly inferior in quality. The 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia did not include maltose， but included malt sugar， a pharmaceutical excipient， which was a crystal powder with high purity. But maltose was included in the national food standard and the local processing specification. Based on the textual research results， it is suggested that malt syrup in GB/T 20883-2017 can be used as the reference for the development of formulas containing maltose， and O. sativa var. glutinosa， H. vulgare are clearly used as raw materials.