As an Iowa kid at the State Fair in the very early 80s, I remember the fructose table in the Horticulture building (since renamed because nobody knows what "horticulture" is anymore) - it was kitty-corner across from the butter sculptures on the floor below. It was near the honey producers. They both gave out samples. I remember which table the children swarmed around (and it wasn't honey!).

High fructose corn syrup (in a fishing bobber/key chain) was very concentrated sugar. Anyone who's ever made simple syrup knows that can happen with other sugars, too. The source of the sugar might be a useful MacGuffin at best.

In hindsight I should have said that HFCS produced with a fructose:glucose ratio of 1:1 wont taste different than sucrose. It's evident that HFCS can and is often produced with much different ratios and can be anything from pure glucose to pure fructose, both of which would taste obviously different.

The HF is "high fructose" and definitely means that a good portion of the glucose derived from the starch has been converted to fructose.

Pure glucose would be corn syrup, not high fructose corn syrup.