Aunt Val's Caramel - the Best Ever Homemade Caramel Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Should you stir sugar when making caramel? ›

The easiest way to prevent crystallization is to avoid stirring the caramel. Instead, swirl the pan gently to help the sugar melt evenly. If any sugars do splash up onto the sides of the pan, use a wet pastry brush to remove them.

Add an acid: Adding an acid keeps sugar from recrystallizing by breaking down a portion of the sucrose molecules into fructose and glucose molecules. Our Caramel Sauce, for instance, includes cream of tartar as insurance against the sugar crystallizing.

This can be caused by extended cooking times (especially under acidic conditions) and the use of the enzyme invertase. Increasing reducing sugars will add to the flavor and color of caramel – but too much can cause excessive stickiness.

This is usually caused by sugar crystals stuck to the side of the pan that didn't get fully dissolved. It only takes one to set off a chain reaction, and before you know it you have crunchy caramel.

This can take time, however, and if you stir the mixture too excessively early on, you may end up splashing the liquid up onto the sides of the cooking pot. There, the water left behind quickly evaporates and the sugar re-crystallizes.

The temperature of the caramel can rise so rapidly that it is hard to keep it in the desired temperature range, shown above. As a result, the caramel could burn and taste bitter.

You should use refined white granulated or caster sugar to make caramel. Avoid using brown sugar or raw cane sugar as they contain impurities that inhibit caramelisation and also the already brown colour can make it harder to assess when the all important reaction is taking place.

Crystallization may be prevented by adding an interferent, such as acid (lemon, vinegar, tartaric, etc.) or glucose or corn syrup, during the boiling procedure.

Just a half teaspoon of lemon per cup of sugar will prevent crystals from forming and ensure that your caramel remains smooth and velvety. You can add the lemon juice to the dry sugar when you put it in your melting pot.

Acid ingredients (like vinegar or lemon juice) can help prevent re-crystallization which causes caramel to become grainy.

Why do my homemade caramels stick to the wax paper? ›

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.

Caramel is sticky business, and if you're making candies, pouring it into an ungreased pan is a huge mistake. It will be difficult (or maybe impossible) to get out! Make life easier by lining your pan with parchment paper and coating it with a layer of baking spray to keep the candy from sticking.

If too many bits of sugar get stuck to the side of the pan, they will harden and can cause the caramel to seize or become gritty or grainy when you add in the butter and/or the cream. Prevent this by gently swirling the sugar around as it melts, while holding the pan's handle, instead of using a utensil to stir it.

The sodium bicarbonate allows it to achieve the 'brittle' texture you are looking for in carmel corn. Without it the stage at which you stop cooking the caramel would result in a very sticky consistency.

Baking soda makes the onions more alkaline, which speeds up the browning reactions necessary for properly caramelized onions. But it also weakens the pectin that holds the onion's cells together, turning what should be soft but distinct pieces of browned onion into a nauseating stew of pea-green mush.

When the baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is mixed into the hot sugar, another chemical reaction occurs. The baking soda breaks up, or decomposes, into sodium carbonate, water, and carbon dioxide. The water vapor and carbon dioxide gases get trapped in the sugary mixture, leaving behind these bubbles.

Finally, caramel is always enhanced with the addition of citrus zest, especially orange zest, or by substituting fruit puree for some of the cream in the caramel base recipe.