Caramelised sugar – the Heart and Soul of Many Sweet Delights

So Many Ways to be Sweet

Caramel is one of the major ingredients of so many of our favourite sweets and confections. It’s so simple to make, but so versatile in its uses and, when prepared in a specific way, or combined with different ingredients, it can produce sweets and desserts that will satisfy the cravings of even the sweetest tooth.

Depending on how it’s prepared caramel can have a rich, golden colour or be a deep, almost black, brown. It can be made as a liquid to be used in sweet sauces to pour over a sticky toffee pudding, as a soft, chewy toffee or fudge or as a hard, brittle substance that we use for peanut brittle.

Making Caramel for Wholesale Confectionery – 101 Variations on a Theme

Caramel is the product of heated sugar, be it white, processed sugar, brown sugar, even the sugar found naturally in fruits and vegetables. It forms the backbone of many sweets and desserts whether made in the home or by industry.

As the raw sugar is heated, it begins to dissolve into a liquid. Essentially, the heating process breaks down the sugar molecules which then reform into what we know as caramel. The more the liquid is heated the deeper the colour becomes and the harder the final product sets.

Adding other ingredients to the heating process will also change the final result. For many confections, some form of dairy product, either milk, cream or butter, is added to make a creamy caramel solution which, dependent on the concentrations of sugar and dairy and the temperature, can set into a soft, malleable substance or a much harder, brittle one.

Here in the UK, caramel is a traditional favourite for many of us, as any wholesale confectionery supplier can confirm. Most manufacturers and suppliers will always have a wide variety of caramel sweets available.

Toffee: An All-Time Favourite

Toffee, in hundreds of different shapes, sizes and forms has been a favourite of the British people for many years, perhaps even centuries. Caramel is combined with butter and heated to between 149C and 154C. This is known as “hard crack stage” as at these temperatures the molecules align so that, when cooled it will be hard and brittle. (Despite its apparent simplicity, cooking caramel is an exact science and even small differences in temperature will affect the final outcome).

Nougat – Sugar or Honey

Sugar or honey when heated to between 121C to 130C becomes what is known as a hard ball caramel. When egg whites, nuts, and sometimes chocolate is added, this then becomes what we commonly call nougat: a soft, chewy confection.

Soft and Sticky Caramel Sweets

Caramel cooked to the “soft ball” stage (112C to 116C) is used to make soft caramel sweets. Often coated with chocolate these are a firm favourite for the old and young alike.

Wholesale confectionery suppliers and manufacturers have a huge range of caramel sweets available, and new ones are always being developed to meet the changing tastes of the sweet loving public.

Happy chewing!