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Caramel (pronounced /'kær?m?l/ or /'k?rm?l/) refers to a range of confection
Confectionery

Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well....
s that are beige
Beige

Beige is a very pale yellowish-Cream color.The term originates from beige cloth, a woollen Textile left in its natural color. It has since come to be used for a range of light tints chosen for their neutral or cool appearance....
 to dark brown in color
Color

Color or colour is the visual perception property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others....
 and derived from the caramelization
Caramelization

Caramelization is the oxidation of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color. As the process occurs, wikt:volatile chemicals are released, producing the characteristic caramel flavor....
 of sugar
Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many other sources....
. Caramel is often made when cooking sweets. It can provide the flavor in pudding
Pudding

Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but can also be a savoury dish.In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth of Nations countries, pudding refers to rich , fairly homogeneous starch- or dairy-based desserts , or informally to any dessert....
s and dessert
Dessert

Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheeses....
s, a filling in candies
Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added....
 or chocolates, or a topping for ice cream
Ice cream

Ice cream or ice-cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, combined with fruits or other ingredients....
 and custards.

Caramel is made by heating sugar slowly to around . As the sugar melts and approaches this temperature, the molecules break down and re-form into compounds with a characteristic caramel color and flavor.






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Encyclopedia


Caramel (pronounced /'kær?m?l/ or /'k?rm?l/) refers to a range of confection
Confectionery

Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well....
s that are beige
Beige

Beige is a very pale yellowish-Cream color.The term originates from beige cloth, a woollen Textile left in its natural color. It has since come to be used for a range of light tints chosen for their neutral or cool appearance....
 to dark brown in color
Color

Color or colour is the visual perception property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others....
 and derived from the caramelization
Caramelization

Caramelization is the oxidation of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color. As the process occurs, wikt:volatile chemicals are released, producing the characteristic caramel flavor....
 of sugar
Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many other sources....
. Caramel is often made when cooking sweets. It can provide the flavor in pudding
Pudding

Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but can also be a savoury dish.In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth of Nations countries, pudding refers to rich , fairly homogeneous starch- or dairy-based desserts , or informally to any dessert....
s and dessert
Dessert

Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheeses....
s, a filling in candies
Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added....
 or chocolates, or a topping for ice cream
Ice cream

Ice cream or ice-cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, combined with fruits or other ingredients....
 and custards.

Caramel is made by heating sugar slowly to around . As the sugar melts and approaches this temperature, the molecules break down and re-form into compounds with a characteristic caramel color and flavor. A variety of candies
Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added....
, confections, and desserts are made with caramel and its products: caramel apples, barley sugar
Barley sugar

Barley sugar is a traditional variety of British candy, or hard candy, yellow or orange in colour with an extract of barley added as flavouring....
, caramel with nut
Nut (fruit)

Nut is a general term for the large, dry, oily seed or fruit of some plant. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts....
s (such as praline
Praline

Praline is a family of confections made from nut s and sugar syrup....
, nougat
Nougat

Nougat is a term used to describe a variety of similar confectioneries made with sugar or honey, roasted nut s and sometimes chopped candied fruit....
, or brittle
Brittle (food)

Brittles are confections, usually very hard and brittle, made of caramel, or near-caramel sugar syrup, and nuts such as pecans and almonds, as well as peas such as peanuts....
), and caramel with custard
Custard

Custard is a range of preparations based on milk and Egg s, thickened with heat. Most commonly, custard refers to a dessert or dessert sauce, but custard bases are also used for quiches and other savoury foods....
 (such as crème caramel or crème brûlée
Crème brûlée

Cr?me br?l?e , burnt cream, crema catalana, or Trinity cream is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hard caramel, created by caramelizing sugar under a broiling, with a blowtorch or other intense heat source, or by pouring cooked caramel on top of the custard....
).

Caramel coloring in contrast is a dark unsweetened liquid, the highly concentrated product of near total caramelization that is bottled for commercial and industrial use. Beverages such as cola
Cola

Cola is a beverage usually with caramel coloring and containing caffeine.Originally invented by the druggist John Pemberton, it has become popular worldwide....
 use caramel coloring, and it is also used as a food colorant
Food coloring

A food coloring is any substance that is added to food or drink to change its color. Food coloring is used both in commercial food production and in domestic cooking....
. On labels in the EU, it is called E150.

Chemistry


Caramelization is the removal of water from a sugar, proceeding to isomerization and polymerization
Polymerization

In polymer chemistry, polymerization is a process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form three-dimensional networks or polymer chains....
 of the sugars into various high-weight compounds. Compounds such as difructose
Fructose

Fructose is a simple Reducing sugar sugar found in many foods and is one of the three important dietary monosaccharides along with glucose and galactose....
-anhydride may be created from the monosaccharide
Monosaccharide

Monosaccharides are the most basic unit of carbohydrates. They are the simplest form of sugar and are usually colorless, water-soluble, crystal solids....
s after water loss. Fragmentation reactions result in low-molecular-weight compounds which may be volatile and may contribute to flavor. Polymerization reactions lead to larger molecular weight compounds which contribute to dark caramel color.

Caramel candy

Caramel 1
Caramel also refers to a soft, dense, chewy, caramel-flavored candy made by boiling milk, sugar, butter, vanilla essence, water, and glucose
Glucose

Glucose , a monosaccharide also known as grape sugar, blood sugar, or corn sugar, is a very important carbohydrate in biology....
 or corn syrup. Caramel candy is not heated above the firm ball stage, i.e. no more than . This is not high enough to cause more than negligible caramelization. This type of candy is often called milk caramel.

See also


  • Butterscotch
    Butterscotch

    Butterscotch is a type of confectionery whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter. Other ingredients such as corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt are typically part of the recipe also....
  • Carambar
    Carambar

    Carambar is a chewy caramel bonbon from France....
    , a brand of caramel candy bar
  • Caramel apple
    Caramel apple

    Caramel apples or taffy apples are created by dipping or rolling apples-on-a-stick in hot caramel, sometimes then rolling them in nut or other small savories or confections, and allowing them to cool....
    , an apple dipped in caramel
  • Condensed milk
    Condensed milk

    Condensed milk, also known as sweetened condensed milk, is Milk#Cow's milk from which water has been removed and to which sugar has been added, yielding a very thick, sweet product that can last for years without refrigeration if unopened....
  • Confection
  • Dodol
    Dodol

    Dodol is a toffee-like food delicacy popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Sri Lanka. In the Philippines, especially in the Ilocos Region in Luzon and in the Lanao provinces of Mindanao and in India especially in the Region of Goa....
    , a caramelized confection made with coconut milk
  • Dulce de leche
    Dulce de leche

    Dulce de leche in Spanish language or doce de leite in Portuguese language , is a milk-based sauce. Found as both a syrup and a caramel candy, it is prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a product that is similar in taste to caramel....
    , caramelized, sweetened, condensed milk
  • Tablet (confectionery)
  • Toffee
    Toffee

    Toffee is a confection made by boiling molasses or sugar along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of 150-160?C ....
    , a candy