Caramel

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A piece of caramel confectionery.
A piece of caramel confectionery.
For other uses, see Caramel (disambiguation).

Caramel (IPA: ['kærəˌmɛl], also IPA: ['kɑrˌməl] in some U.S. regions) is a food which has a color from beige to dark brown and a sweet toasted flavour, derived from the caramelization of sugar. Caramel is used to flavor candy, as well as soft drinks such as Coca-Cola.

Caramel is also a commonly used food coloring, with the E number E150; see caramel coloring.

Caramel can be made from sugar by heating it slowly to around 170°C/340°F. (The particular temperature depends on the sugar. See caramelization). As the sugar melts and approaches this temperature, the molecules break down into other volatile compounds that give it the characteristic caramel color and flavors. There are also many other ways of making caramel.

Various candies, confections, and desserts are made with caramel: caramel apples, barley sugar, caramel with nuts (such as praline, nougat, or brittle), and caramel with custard (such as crème caramel or crème brûlée).

[edit] Caramel candy

The word caramel also describes a soft, chewy, caramel-flavored candy made by boiling milk, sugar, butter, oil, syrup, vanilla essence, water, and glucose gum together. Milk is a vital ingredient in caramel candies, giving them a creamy, collapsible texture.

The color and flavour of caramel candy are due not to caramelization, but to the Stecker degradation or the Maillard reaction, which occurs between an amino acid and a reducing sugar.

[edit] Flavored caramels

The popularity of caramel as a candy has led to new types of flavors of caramel.

  • A common flavor is vanilla caramel, which as its name describes, is caramel with a hint of vanilla that is usually stronger than the vanilla flavor present in regular caramel. Thus, it is often mistaken as regular caramel by those with undiscriminating taste buds, which is also partially due to the fact that regular and vanilla caramel share the same color.
  • Another common flavor of caramel is rum butter caramel, which is caramel with hints of rum and butter flavours, giving the caramel a seemingly richer flavor and the distinctiveness of rum.
  • Chocolate caramel is often a common flavored caramel, however it is not used as often as rum butter or vanilla flavors. Chocolate caramel is easily distinguished by its color, often much darker than other types of caramel, and in most cases even as dark as chocolate itself. This is usually due to artificial coloring in mass production caramel candies, however if there is actual cocoa powder used (as opposed to just artificial flavouring), the cocoa powder will lend some of its brown color to darkening the caramel. The more cocoa powder used, the darker the caramel will be and the more it will taste like chocolate.

[edit] See also

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