Aug. 11, 2010 - Issue #773: The Fringe hotspots
Provenance
The history of caramel
/ Supplied
By the mid-19th century, candy makers discovered that by adding milk and fat products to the traditional cooked sugar mixture, a sweet, chewy confection was created.
This new creation soon became known as "caramel" and its popularity grew quickly.
What makes a caramel a caramel? It's the heating of the milk solids and fats, fused with the sugar ingredients, that creates the typical caramel flavour. Keep in mind that caramel is not the same as butterscotch, although many confuse the two.
In a conventional caramelization process, the sugar syrups are cooked to the proper moisture level, added to the fat and milk, heated and then allowed to caramelize. You can actually watch the chemical reaction take place, as your ingredients turn from a milky white color to a rich brown.
The slight burning of the milk solids under these conditions is a most pleasant smell. If cooked even further, the mixture loses moisture and becomes toffee.
It's worth mentioning that Milton Hershey's first venture into the candy business had nothing to do with chocolate. He initially started the Lancaster Caramel Company in the late-19th century.
Later, he thought of coating caramel candies with chocolate and acquired some German chocolate-manufacturing machinery. He became far more enamored with chocolate making, however, and sold the caramel factory. So if it wasn't for caramel, there may never have been a single Hershey bar. V
Recipe
Caramel Popcorn
Ingredients:
1 cup of lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup of corn syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 bag of light microwave popcorn
Pre-pop the bag of plain microwave popcorn and pour into a large bowl. Light popcorn works best. Remove all the unpopped kernels.
Bring the brown sugar, butter and light corn syrup to a boil in a large pot over medium heat, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon. Continue stirring constantly as you turn off the heat.
Add the vanilla, then the baking soda. There will be a slight chemical reaction and your caramel will start to foam and rise as you keep stirring.
Add the popcorn and stir until all the popcorn is coated. Don't worry if the stirring becomes difficult.
Preheat your oven to 250 F and press the popcorn mixture as best you can on a greased baking tray. You will likely not be able to cover the face of the tray.
Bake the popcorn for 30 minutes, pressing down on your popcorn to further flatten it every 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool thoroughly. Once cool and hard, break into bite-sized pieces and enjoy. vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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