What is Caramel? (and what is not?)

The Five Ingredients of Real Caramel

As the weather cools down and the year-end holidays approach, sweet treats seem to be more what many people are craving. While perusing the produce section recently I noticed several products labeled as "caramel" displayed with the apples, and I agree that caramel and apples are a great combination of tastes. But when reading the ingredients on these "caramel" products, I see that they bear little, if any, resemblance to real caramel. All of which leads to the question:

 What is Caramel?

In the simplest sense, caramel is sugar that is heated until it melts and then heated some more until it begins to darken but not so much that it scorches. Think crème brûlée; just the slightest hint of bitterness and a satisfying crack as the spoon pushes through. Real caramel candy (or sauce) begins the same way but as the end product should be something softer and more melt-in-your-mouth, cream and butter are added after the sugar is caramelized and then heated again until the caramel attains the desired consistency.

What is Not Caramel?

Some products found on grocery shelves are labeled as “caramel” but the ingredients include unnecessary items like oil, thickening agents, coloring agents, “caramel flavor” or unhealthy sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup. These products are used to reduce production costs but the end product bears no similarity to real caramel.

So in a nutshell, real caramel candy contains only a few ingredients: sugar, cream and butter plus a small amount of “invert sugar” to prevent the sugar from recrystallizing, and salt. Additional flavorings can be added, like vanilla, chocolate, or maybe a fruit flavor, but anything else is unnecessary or worse.

Cooper Street Kitchen takes pride in producing our caramel using the basic recipe that has stood the test of time. Our basic recipe contains only five ingredients: Sugar, cream, butter, agave nectar and sea salt. The cream and butter come from local dairy farms in the Hudson Valley and no artificial ingredients of any kind are ever used in our caramel. Try some, I think you'll like it!