During kraft pulping of wood, a considerable part of biomass is solubilized, forming a black liquor from which material can be taken out as by-products. Of these, extractive-derived fractions such as tall oil and raw turpentine has long seen technical utilization, and presently, lignin degradation products have garnered a large interest. The carbohydrate degradation products, however, have seen considerably less focus. In this work, we have investigated the structure of a high molecular-weight fraction of the carbohydrate degradation products using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, finding it to be a conjugated aromatic structure rich in methyl, methylidine, alcohol and carboxylic acid groups. Based on this information, we suggest a structure based on hydroxymethylfurfural as the repeating unit, with sugar acid substituents providing additional functionality. Additionally, UV-vis data of the polymer is compared with data from the kraft cooking of cotton linters and other model systems to corroborate the hypothesis that this polymer is indeed present in black liquor and potentially responsible for some of its characteristic colour. It also reacts in the kappa number analysis, exhibiting 40 % of the permanganate consumption predicted for pure lignin. Finally, the technical significance of these carbohydrate degradation products is discussed based on the structural findings.