Wrapped chewy caramels beside an open jar of dulce de leche, a jar of goat's milk caramel drizzling from a spoon, a pot of amber caramelized sugar and a pinch of flaky salt

Caramel: The Complete Guide

Published 9 Sep 20267 min read

Filed under Caramels

Caramel covers more ground than one word suggests. The same name goes on a glassy pool of browned sugar, a wrapped square of chewy candy, a jar of dulce de leche, a bottle of goat's milk caramel and a syrup for coffee. This guide sorts them by what goes in and how far they are cooked, and follows each style back to where it came from.

What heat does to sugar

At 320°F all the water has boiled away and plain sugar is a light amber liquid. By about 338°F it turns brown as it begins to break down into many complex new compounds, which is caramelization in the strict sense. Above about 350°F the sugar starts to burn and turns bitter, so the useful window for a dry caramel is narrow.

Chewy caramels and toffee stop well short of that range. Candy makers name their working stages for what a drop of the hot syrup does when it falls into cold water: whether it runs as a thread, rolls into a soft ball, holds a firm ball or snaps into brittle threads. Around 235 to 240°F (soft ball) a drop forms a soft, flexible ball in cold water. Around 245 to 250°F (firm ball) the syrup gives the chewy caramel of a wrapped candy, and at about 300 to 310°F (hard crack) it sets hard, the range used for toffee. A few degrees separate one texture from the next, which is why a candy thermometer matters here.

The chewy caramel

The wrapped caramel of candy shops is sugar, cream and butter, cooked to the firm-ball stage. McCrea's lists inverted cane sugar and tapioca syrup with its fresh milk, fresh cream and butter.

McCrea's Candies slow-cooks its caramels in small batches and runs them through a wrapping machine that measures, cuts and wraps each piece. The range shows how far the form can stretch. Classic vanilla (shop Classic Vanilla) is the plain vanilla caramel. Cape Cod sea salt (shop Cape Cod Sea Salt) adds a pinch of flaky salt to the caramel. Deep chocolate (shop Deep Chocolate) lists Dutch-processed chocolate liquor among its caramel ingredients, alongside the milk, cream and sugar. Tapped maple (shop Tapped Maple) brings New England maple syrup into the chew, and the maple syrup guide covers maple itself. Single malt Scotch (shop Single Malt Scotch) is described by McCrea's as having a rich, peat-smoked flavor, with single malt Scotch in its ingredient list.

Dulce de leche

Dulce de leche is milk and sugar cooked down into a thick brown spread. Argentina claims it as its own, though its origin is disputed and other countries tell their own stories. The best-known Argentine legend dates it to 24 June 1829 at Cañuelas, in Buenos Aires province, when General Lavalle came to meet his rival Juan Manuel de Rosas and Rosas's cook, distracted, left sweetened milk on the fire. An earlier account undercuts the legend, since San Martín is said to have been offered some when he crossed into Chile in 1817. In Argentina it is a classic filling for alfajores.

San Ignacio's dulce de leche (shop San Ignacio dulce de leche) comes from Argentina, from a dairy company that began in Rosario, Santa Fe, and dates its work to 1939. Warm a spoonful to loosen it and pour it over ice cream or a baked apple, swirl it into brownies before baking, or spread it on toast with a pinch of salt. It also stirs into hot milk or a cup of drinking chocolate, and the hot chocolate vs drinking chocolate guide covers the difference between the two.

Cajeta and goat's milk caramel

Cajeta is Mexico's version, most closely associated with Celaya in Guanajuato and traditionally made with goat's milk. Its name comes from the cajete, a container made of thin wooden sheet that the milk candy was once packed in, and its base is goat's milk, sugar and cinnamon. Goat's milk makes cajeta a different style from cow's milk dulce de leche.

An American take on the idea comes from Vermont. Fat Toad Farm's traditional goat's milk caramel (shop Fat Toad Farm goat's milk caramel) began in 2007 as a Vermont homesteading experiment with a single goat. It is now made by hand in small batches by Butterfly Bakery of Vermont in Barre, using a traditional slow-cooking method. Pour it over vanilla ice cream, roasted pears or a slice of pound cake, stir it into coffee, or drizzle it over a soft goat cheese.

Salted butter caramel and where it came from

Caramel au beurre salé has a birthplace and a date. In 1977 Henri Le Roux, working in Quiberon on the coast of Brittany, made a caramel with the region's salted butter and crushed nuts and called it caramel au beurre salé. Brittany was exempt from France's salt tax, the gabelle, and Taste France traces the region's salted butter to that exemption. Le Roux's caramel turned a local habit into a confection.

Salt suppresses bitterness, which can let other flavors, sweetness included, come forward. The finishing salt guide covers the flaky kinds. A few flakes on a chewy caramel, a spoon of dulce de leche or a pour of goat's milk caramel bring the Breton idea to any of them.

Caramel in a glass

Caramel syrup for drinks is a different thing again, a syrup made to pour and dissolve in a glass. Bacanha's caramel syrup (shop Bacanha caramel syrup) comes from a French syrup house that makes its syrups in a workshop near Paris and says it favors organic ingredients wherever possible. The Bacanha syrup guide covers the house in full. The house presents its caramel among the flavors meant for coffee, lattes and hot chocolate, so start there with a spoonful in a latte or a mug of hot chocolate.

Caramel styles side by side

Style	What goes in	Where it comes from	How far it is cooked
Burnt sugar (dry caramel)	Sugar alone	The basic technique	Light amber at 320°F, brown by 338°F, bitter above 350°F
Chewy caramel	Sugar, milk, cream, butter	The wrapped candy	Firm ball, 245 to 250°F
Toffee	Varies by maker	The hard candy	Hard crack, 300 to 310°F
Dulce de leche	Milk and sugar	Argentina, origin disputed	Cooked down to a thick brown spread
Cajeta	Goat's milk, sugar, cinnamon	Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico	Cooked down to a thick caramel
Caramel au beurre salé	Caramel with Breton salted butter and crushed nuts	Quiberon, Brittany, 1977	Varies by maker
Caramel syrup	Varies by maker	The coffee bar	Made to pour and dissolve

Read across a row and the method points to the use. The firm-ball chew is for eating out of hand, the spreads for spoons, toast and cakes, the hard-crack candy for snapping, and the syrup for the glass.

How to read a caramel label

The ingredient list tells you the style. A chewy milk caramel lists its dairy near the top, and on McCrea's ingredient lists fresh milk and fresh cream come first. Dulce de leche starts from milk and sugar, cajeta from goat's milk. A flavored caramel names its flavor in the list itself: the maple caramel lists pure maple syrup, the chocolate one lists chocolate liquor, the Scotch one lists the whisky.

Where to start

For the candy dish: a box of McCrea's sea salt and one of the single malt. For breakfast: San Ignacio on toast. For dessert: Fat Toad Farm over anything cold. For the bar and the espresso machine: Bacanha.

The caramel collection and the chocolate bar collection ship across the continental U.S. from theambrosianpantry.com, and visitors can ask staff questions in the shop at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver.