Tips for Making Caramels (2024)

FAQs

What not to do when making caramel? ›

Adding an acid like lemon juice is another way to prevent sucrose from crystallizing. The cream and butter also act as “interfering agents” as the milk proteins in both help to prevent crystal formation. Ingredients such as vanilla, flavorings, salt, and nuts (or baking soda for caramel corn) are all added at the end.

Swirl, don't stir: While slow, deliberate stirring will help the sugar dissolve evenly, you want to stop stirring once it has fully melted.

If caramels are too soft, that means the temperature didn't get high enough.

That water will end up in the caramel itself, so if you've added too much it might result in a thin caramel sauce. Try adjusting the cooking time to allow the excess water to evaporate.

If your caramel becomes gritty or grainy, the sugar probably crystallized. If the melting sugar splashes up onto the sides of the pan, it quickly loses its moisture content and forms back into crystals. That can set off a chain reaction that can cause caramel to seize up, ruining the entire batch.

Sure, there are additional ingredients that add flavor like vanilla extract, butter, and heavy cream, but the real star of the show is the cooked sugar. This means that in order for your caramels to develop a robust flavor, the sugar needs to be cooked until it's deeply caramelized.

Add acid. Acid ingredients (like vinegar or lemon juice) can help prevent re-crystallization which causes caramel to become grainy. Acid physically breaks the bonds between the glucose and fructose molecules that form sucrose and ensure that it stays apart.

According to Fine Cooking, caramel can be made using either a dry or wet method: Dry: White granulated sugar is placed over a medium-high heat and cooked until it turns liquid and becomes golden brown. Wet: Water is added to the pan, which allows the sugar to cook longer and develop better flavors.

There are two basic methods of making caramel – wet and dry; the basic difference between the two methods being water. Essentially both methods are heating sugar, then adding fat (butter and cream, typically); but the wet uses water to dissolve the sugar faster.

How to tell if caramel is done? ›

No surprise: It's by temperature, not color. When making caramel, we recommend using an instant-read thermometer to gauge when the sugar has reached the appropriate degree of caramelization called for in the recipe instead of simply eyeballing it to evaluate if it's dark enough.

The idea is to lower the PH. you can also use a small pinch of citric acid or cream of tartar if you have. lemon juice won't work as it will turn bitter as the sugar cooks. Alternatively, an invert sugar such as corn syrup or golden syrup will work beautifully.

If it's grainy, don't panic—there's still hope. Identify the Cause: Grainy caramel sauce typically results from sugar crystallization during the cooking process. This can happen if sugar crystals form on the sides of the saucepan or if the sugar syrup is mixed too much while cooking.

The idea is to lower the PH. you can also use a small pinch of citric acid or cream of tartar if you have. lemon juice won't work as it will turn bitter as the sugar cooks. Alternatively, an invert sugar such as corn syrup or golden syrup will work beautifully.

Refrigerate until cooled and hardened. (Best if you refrigerate them overnight, or for several hours. They will be easier to cut and wrap). The caramel will seem hard in the fridge after they're set, but they should be soft at room temperature.

Cut waxed paper for caramel wrappers -

In general the paper sold for home use is too light weight, the grain of the paper isn't made to withstand twisting (it tears), and the wax coating is too light to prevent the moisture from the candy from seaping into the paper and weakening it thus causing it to tear and stick.