SuburbiaDame's Profile

Di- here comes the science

Mixing the sugar with water dissolves it- but only so much sugar can be dissolved normally. (Ever add too much sugar to iced tea and have a bunch of crystals sitting at the bottom of the glass?). Adding heat means a lot more sugar can be dissolved in the water than usual. Heating the sugar with water breaks down the crystalline structure of the sugar, which resembles a cube. When heated, the cube breaks down, and if even one tiny crystal of sugar is introduced after the crystals have started to dissolve, the sugar will "catch on" to what you're doing and stabilize and re-form in to crystals. If you do this intentionally, you can make Rock Candy.

A lot of caramel recipes strongly advise against stirring for just these reasons- if crystals stick to the edge of the pan, stirring will reintroduce them and your caramel with stabilize.

However, most sugars are not the same crystalline form. Sucrose, what we refer to as "sugar" or "refined sugar", is different from other forms of syrup. By introducing another form of sugar- say, Fructose (made from fruits and vegetables like corn and agave), the sucrose is less likely to recrystalize, because the Fructose bonds with the Sucrose, keeping it in its unstable form.

However, you can make caramel without fructose! You can use all sugar! It's just more fickle.

When making all sugar caramel, you can stir while the sugar is dissolving, just make sure to use a pastry brush dipped in water to brush the sides of the pan, to make sure any crystals sticking to the sides are reintroduced to the solution before total dissolving has occured. Once most of the crystals (as in, less than a teaspoon) are dissolved, stop stirring. Just let it do it's thing and watch as is turns yellow, amber, brown. When you do a drop-test (dropping it into the water), carefully lift the syrup from the middle of the pan and hold a paper towel under it to keep from dripping. A candy thermometer in the pan will be very helpful to know when you've reached the right temperature.

If something goes wrong anyway, add a bit more water and start from the beginning. I have also heard that adding lemon juice will prevent crystallization, but I haven't tried it.

Credit where credit's due- most of this I learned from my 11th grade chem teacher, and the wonderful Alton Brown, who has a lovely episode on the subject.

Also- can't wait to try this recipe. I received salted caramel truffles this Christmas and have been drooling for something similar ever since!