Caramel
Encyclopedia
Caramel is a beige
Beige
Beige may be described as an off tan color or an extremely pale brown color.The term originates from beige cloth, a cotton fabric left undyed in its natural color...

 to dark-brown 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...

 made by heating any of a variety of sugars. It is used as a flavoring in pudding
Pudding
Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but it can also be a savory dish.In the United States, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, though it may also refer to other types such as bread and rice pudding.In the United Kingdom and...

s and dessert
Dessert
In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...

s, as a filling in bonbon
Bonbon
The name bonbon refers to any of several types of sweets, especially small candies enrobed in chocolate.The first reports of bonbons come from the 17th century, when they were made at the French royal court. Their name arose from infantile reduplication of the word bon, meaning 'good'...

s, and as a topping for ice cream
Ice cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...

, custard
Custard
Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on a cooked mixture of milk or cream and egg yolk. Depending on how much egg or thickener is used, custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce , to a thick pastry cream used to fill éclairs. The most common custards are used as...

 and coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

.

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

 consists of heating sugar slowly to around 170 °C. As the sugar heats, the molecules break down and re-form into compounds with a characteristic 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
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...

, and dessert
Dessert
In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...

s are made with caramel: caramel apples, praline
Praline
Praline is a family of confections made from nuts and sugar syrup.-Europe:As originally inspired in France at the Château of Vaux-le-Vicomte by the cook of the 17th-century sugar industrialist Marshal du Plessis-Praslin , early pralines were whole almonds individually coated in caramelized sugar,...

s, nougat
Nougat
Nougat is a variety of similar traditional confectioneries made with sugar and/or honey, roasted nuts , and sometimes chopped candied fruit. The consistency of nougat can range from soft and chewy to hard and crunchy depending on its composition, and it is used in a variety of candy bars and...

s, brittle
Brittle (food)
Brittle is a type of confection, consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts....

s, crème caramel, and crème brûlée
Crème brûlée
Crème brûlée , also known as burnt cream, crema catalana, or Trinity cream is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a contrasting layer of hard caramel...

.

Etymology

Most linguists trace the origin of the word to Medieval Latin "cannamellis" (sugar cane) or to Latin "callamellus" (little reed, referring to sugar cane).

Caramel candy


Caramel candy is a soft, dense, chewy candy made by boiling a mixture of milk or cream, sugar(s), butter, and vanilla flavoring.

The sugar(s) are heated separately to reach 170 °C, caramelizing them before the other ingredients are added. Alternatively, all ingredients may be cooked together; in this procedure, the mixture is not heated above the firm ball stage (120 °C), so there is caramelization of the milk but not of the sugars. This type of candy is often called milk caramel or cream caramel.

Caramel coloring

Caramel coloring is a dark, bitter-tasting liquid. It is the highly concentrated product of near total caramelization, bottled for commercial use. It is used as food coloring
Food coloring
Food coloring is a substance, liquid or powder, that is added to food or drink to change its color. Food coloring is used both in commercial food production and in domestic cooking...

 and in beverages such as cola
Cola
Cola is a carbonated beverage that was typically flavored by the kola nut as well as vanilla and other flavorings, however, some colas are now flavored artificially. It became popular worldwide after druggist John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola in 1886...

.

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, or fruit sugar, is a simple monosaccharide found in many plants. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorbed directly into the bloodstream during digestion. Fructose was discovered by French chemist Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut in 1847...

 anhydride may be created from the monosaccharide
Monosaccharide
Monosaccharides are the most basic units of biologically important carbohydrates. They are the simplest form of sugar and are usually colorless, water-soluble, crystalline solids. Some monosaccharides have a sweet taste. Examples of monosaccharides include glucose , fructose , galactose, xylose...

s after water loss. Fragmentation reactions result in low-molecular-weight compounds that may be volatile and may contribute to flavor. Polymerization reactions lead to larger-molecular-weight compounds that contribute to the dark-brown color.

In modern recipes and in commercial production, glucose
Glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate in biology. Cells use it as the primary source of energy and a metabolic intermediate...

 (from corn syrup
Corn syrup
Corn syrup is a food syrup, which is made from the starch of maize and contains varying amounts of maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade. Corn syrup is used in foods to soften texture, add volume, prevent crystallization of sugar, and enhance flavor...

 or wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

) or invert sugar
Inverted sugar syrup
Inverted or invert sugar syrup is a mixture of glucose and fructose; it is obtained by splitting sucrose into these two components. Compared with its precursor, sucrose, inverted sugar is sweeter and its products tend to remain more moist and are less prone to crystallisation...

 is added to prevent crystallization, making up 10%–50% of the sugars by mass. It should be noted that "wet caramels" (made by heating sucrose and water instead of sucrose alone) produce their own invert sugar due to thermal reaction, but not necessarily enough to prevent crystallization in traditional recipes.

Nutritional information

2 tablespoons of caramel contain:
  • Calories: 103
  • Fat (g): 0.04
  • Carbohydrates (g): 27
  • Fibers (g): 0.4
  • Protein (g): 0.61
  • Cholesterol (mg): 0.0

See also

  • Butterscotch
    Butterscotch
    Butterscotch is a type of confectionery whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter, although other ingredients such as corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt are part of some recipes...

    , a type of candy
  • Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel
    Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel
    Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel is a chocolate bar that is part of the Cadbury Dairy Milk brand and is made by Cadbury UK and Cadbury Ireland...

    , a British brand of caramel chocolate bar
  • Caramac
    Caramac
    Caramac is the brand name for a caramel flavoured bar manufactured by Nestlé. Originally it was launched by Mackintosh's in 1959. The name Caramac was derived from the syllabic abbreviation of caramel and Mackintosh.The name of the product was determined by a competition winner...

    , a British brand of caramel candy bar
  • Carambar
    Carambar
    Carambar is a chewy caramel candy from France.-History:In 1954, Mr Fauchille, director of the Delespaul-Havez company, and Mr. Galois an employee had a surplus of cocoa and decided to create a new, original recipe to use it up. The legend says that one of the machines in the factory was...

    , a French 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 nuts or other small savories or confections, and allowing them to cool...

    , an apple coated in caramel, a taffy apple
  • Caramel corn
    Caramel corn
    Caramel corn is a confection made of popcorn coated with a sugar or molasses based caramel candy shell. Typically a sugar solution or syrup is made and heated until it browns and becomes thick, producing a caramelized candy syrup. This hot candy is then mixed with popped popcorn, and allowed to cool...

    , popcorn coated in caramel
  • Caramel sauce
    Caramel sauce
    Caramel sauce is a sauce made from heating water and caster sugar at a low to moderate temperature until the sugar dissolves and "caramelizes", changing color to golden brown.-See also:*Dulce de leche*Somebody's Mother's Chocolate Sauce's Caramel Sauce...

    , a sauce made with caramel
  • Caramilk, a Canadian brand of caramel candy bar
  • Confection
  • Dodol
    Dodol
    Dodol is a toffee-like sweet food delicacy popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines especially in the Ilocos Region in Luzon and in the Lanao provinces of Mindanao, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Burma, where it is called mont kalama. It is also popular among the Roman Catholics from the west coastal...

    , a caramelized confection made with coconut milk
  • Dulce de leche
    Dulce de leche
    Dulce de leche is a thick,creamy, caramel-like milk-based sauce or spread.Literally translated, dulce de leche means "sweet from milk". It is prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a product that derives its taste from caramelised sugar. It is a popular sweet in Latin America, where...

    , caramelized, sweetened, condensed milk
  • Tablet
  • Toffee
    Toffee
    Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of 300 to 310 °F...

    , a type of candy

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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