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JennyP
Lv 7
JennyP asked in Food & DrinkCooking & Recipes · 10 years ago

What am I doing wrong?

My attempts to make caramel are failing miserably! I follow the directions according to the recipe and use a candy thermometer, but the temperature reaches the required temp before the caramel is the desired color. If I cook it longer to get that rich golden brown, then it hardens like a Sugar Daddy on steroids! Last nights attempt ended up with the caramel having a texture of brown sugar, and this was simply supposed to be for a sauce! Please help!

3 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    10 years ago
    Favourite answer

    Well this is a difficult question...

    Not having the sugar become a grainy mess is your second biggest-challenge when making caramel. The first is getting it to just the right color; no more, no less.

    The color can be best described as that of an old copper penny. Perfect caramel should be cooked until it’s dark, reddish-brown, and just past the point where it starts to smoke. Some recipes advise cooking caramel until it ‘starts’ to smoke—but that’s too soon...

    This may sound weird but I take a sniff once it begins to turn amber-colored and darken; if you keep smelling it, it’s fairly easy to gauge when it goes from slightly-cooked…to almost-there…to deep, rich-caramel perfection. If you screw it up, a cup of sugar is pretty cheap in case you overdo it and after you make caramel once or twice, you should get the hang of it....

    Make sure you have a good saucepan or skillet.... Whatever pan you use, make sure it’s light-colored, heavy-duty and solid. And any utensils, like spatulas you’ll be using to stir should be able to withstand the heat....

    There are a lot of recipes out there...and all I have to go buy is mine...I think the main trick I learned along the way is to keep the temp down and that is difficult sometimes...because you think candy should be cooked on a higher heat...all that does is cause the sugar to burn...

    One other tip I learned from my mom was to use pure cane sugar...

    Good luck ! ! !

  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    Perhaps you are trying to make it the colour of bought caramel which has added artificial colouring.

    The temperature is the deciding factor, not the colour.

  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    It sounds like you are cooking it on too high of a heat, start on a low heat and gradually make it hotter as it starts to melt.

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