The nice brown colour of a caramel can be formed through the caramelization of sugar. Caramelization is a series of chemical reactions in which the sugar participates. As a result of these chemical reactions larger molecules will form which have a brown colour. Caramelization of sugar is done by heating the sugar without any other ingredients except for water to the correct temperature. At this temperature caramelization will set in and occur by itself, only cooling down the sugars will stop the caramelization again.
There is another way to form a brown caramel, without heating the sugar to these high temperatures. It is another very common chemical browning reaction in food: the Maillard reaction. During this reaction molecules with a brown colour are formed as well. However, instead of just sugar, this reaction also requires proteins to occur.
Since butter, milk and cream contain these proteins, they can be added to sugar to initiate the Maillard reaction. Since this browning reaction will start to occur at far lower temperatures than caramelization, it is also used quite often in recipes. When making caramel at home there are two different ways to bring the sugar to this high temperature:. In this method you place sugar in a pot and heat it gently until it starts to melt and subsequently start to brown, the caramelization.
It is very important that all sugar it heated up evenly, else some might already brown, whereas other parts are still solid sugar crystals. This method tends to be more tricky than the wet method. This more fool-proof method uses sugar and water. Instead of pouring the sugar in a pan by itself, you mix it with some water.
The advantage is that the sugar will dissolve in the water. Since it is dissolved in the water it is easier to heat it evenly. The more water that is boiled of, the warmer it becomes.
Once the water has all evaporated the sugar is warm enough and caramelization will start. Adding more water will result in a longer boiling time. It is no problem to add extra water during boiling. It will just take more time.
Regular sugar sucrose , is quite special. When you buy a pack of sugar all the sugar will be crystalline, they are crystals. When making a caramel you do not want these crystals. This is why the wet method helps you in making a smooth caramel.
It helps to melt the crystals by first dissolving them. That said, with both methods it is still possible to create those unwanted sugar crystals. Fortunately, they can be cleared away again quite easily. So how do those sugar crystals form?
Sugar molecules strongly prefer to sit in this crystalline structure. They only need a little help to recrystallize again when they are dissolved or melted. The higher the concentration of sugar, the higher the chance they will form these crystals again.
There are a few tips and tricks to prevent crystallization of sucrose. The first is to add a crystallization inhibitor. This is an additional substance that can prevent sucrose from crystallizing. One of the most common inhibitors is glucose syrup. Instead, it also contains longer molecules.
These molecules can interfer with the crystallization of the sugar, they will be in the way of the sugar molecules when trying to build a new crystal. Sugar crystals tend to build up onto something. As soon as you have a crystal in your mixture, it will spread out very rapidly. These crystals will form more easily in a drier area e.
A stirrer can also be an area where crystals start to grow. This is why most recipes will warn you to not stir the sugar while caramelizing, only do so at the start when the crystallization is not that likely to occur! The easiest way to solve the crystallization and the most effective is to add more water.
In other words, start over again. By adding the water, the sugar crystals can again dissolve. Simply re-heat the sugar, evaporate the water and try again! As a result, the caramel may become way too brown or it might even burn.
It can be as simple as adding some water. Often though you will see that you have to add some milk, cream or butter. The advantage of adding these into the hot sugar is that they will also participate in chemical reactions. This will improve the flavour of your caramel even further. Always keep in mind that the sugar is very hot at this point. It is way easiest to add something liquid, this will mix in most easily.
However, take care that it will boil almost immediately and it might therefore splash. If you add something with plenty proteins e. Caramels can be sauces, syrups or thick gooey bites. In most recipes you will first try to get the colour of the caramel right, before you focus on the consistency itself. If you leave this to cool down it will become a rock hard piece of caramel. The sugar has formed a glassy structure. You can make it softer again by adding moisture.
This can be water, but also milk or cream for instance, as long as water is added. Adding a lot of moisture will result in a sauce or syrup. Adding only a little bit of water will result in a thicker less runny caramel.
The good thing about sugar and water though is that these are all reversible processes. When a caramel has become grainy, the sugar has started to crystallize. If this always happens for your recipe, you might have to add some inhibitors as we discussed in the article.
Adding inclusions into the caramel, for example peanuts, makes it more prone to crystallization and thus graininess. In those cases, you might want to take some extra measures. Often, a split caramel can be saved by gently reheating the caramel and stirring continuously. Adding some extra water can also help here to mix everything again before boiling off that extra water one more time. Last but not least, do not heat or cool down the caramel too rapidly.
The fat might melt or solidify at a different rate than the caramel, causing the split. No worries here! Just add some extra moisture, reheat and you will turn out with a thinner and softer caramel. Let it be fudgey. Dissolve it in coffee. It's still good. You might be able to save the sauce if you continue to heat it on low to medium heat, but I'm going out on a limb here.
It will eventually turn into hard toffee , which you can let cool and eat as it is, or if you need a "sauce" you can process the toffee to a powder and mix it with whipped cream. My recipe called for a cup of sugar 6 tbsp. My sugar turned into a mess while heating on medium heat. It never melted but seized into little chunks. Then I began adding my butter and it got worse.
I took it all out of the pot and added a splash of water to the pot first and let it heat up and put the chunky little bits back in the pot and let it boil for a few minutes. I added half of the heavy cream and it began to smooth out. It was still somewhat grainy so I poured it through a sieve. It worked fine. I have smooth caramel sauce. Just plain water did the trick. I don't think you can fix it because you would have to liquify the sugar to correct it. If I were you I would strain what you have, and use the liquid to make hot chocolate or something.
Then start again. Maybe use my recipe, if yours is very different? The "grainy" look I guess would be crystallisation, which has a couple of causes when making caramel sauce. The recipe you are using is new to me gee there are a lot of recipes for caramel sauce , the biggest difference being lack of water to sugar or in another way, too much sugar to water for the dissolved sugar to stay "invert. I suggest you could bring your "grainy" mixture to a simmer and add quarter cup of lemon juice, mix slowly by moving the saucepan around from side to side, front and back.
Do this carefully — caramel can cause awful burns, and using a spoon or whisk will cause crystals to form. This should cause "invert" sugar to occur and remain stable — but not for long, perhaps a few hours. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. How can I fix my caramel sauce?
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Did you cook it to a specific temperature or did you do everything based on time? In this case, it suggested that you add some corn syrup. The corn syrup will inhibit the crystallization of the sugar , promising a smooth texture. Whenever the recipe involves sugar and sweetness, cooking over a low flame is the right choice.
This is because if you use a high flame setting, the sugar tends to get brown, and crystals are created. Also, remember not to stir the caramel while it is heating up as this introduces air and leads to crystallization.
You can scrape down the sides of the saucepan but try not to stir the caramel itself. Undercooking can lead to crystallization as well. So, the minimum temperature should be degrees Fahrenheit. A candy thermometer will come in handy here. As for scraping the sides during the cooking process, you should use a wet pastry brush.
When life gives you lemons, add a little to your caramel sauce to save it from crystallization just be careful not to add too much.
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