Make Caramel

Caramel is sugar that's been melted and browned. At such high temperatures, however, sugar can be finicky. You can start the caramel off by heating a mixture of sugar and water (wet caramel) but it's tricky to prevent it from crystallizing. Or, you can heat the sugar by itself (dry caramel) in which case you have be more attentive about it burning. These instructions will outline how to make a simple wet caramel, while the video below offers some advice for making wet caramel.

Note that this is not the same as making caramel candy or caramel sauce, which require additional ingredients like butter, cream, or milk.

Ingredients

 * Sugar and water

Steps

 * 1) Take safety precautions. Dryed sugar can splatter and burn your hands.


 * 1) *Wear oven mitts
 * 2) *Wear long sleeves
 * 3) *Keep a bowl of icy water nearby so you can put your hand in it if you get splashed on
 * 4) *Wear glasses to protect your eyes
 * 5) *Use a very big pot in case the caramel bubbles up
 * 6) Heat an even layer of sugar in a heavy-duty pan over low heat.
 * 7) Push the sugar to the center as it starts melting. This is just to keep it from burning. Don't move sugar that isn't melted yet or you'll end up with a lumpy, grainy mess and will have to wait longer for it to caramelize.
 * 8) Watch the mixture carefully. You can use a candy thermometer to see if it's ready, but there's still a chance that even a professional thermometer will melt. Instead, look for it to turn the color of an old copper penny: dark, reddish-brown, and just past the point where it starts to smoke.
 * 9) What you do next depends on what you're doing with the caramel:
 * 10) *If you're using it to line a mold, immediately pour it into the mold or ramekins.
 * 11) *If you're adding cream or butter, add it now.
 * 12) **Never add butter until you know the caramel is ready, or else it'll taste too sweet.
 * 13) **If you add too much butter, the caramel will split and look oily. You'll have to start over.
 * 14) *Otherwise, stop the cooking by placing the bottom of the pan in ice water, or else the caramel will keep cooking even when you take it off the heat.
 * 15) Clean the pot you used immediately. It will be far more difficult to clean later.

Tips

 * Use the heaviest gauge metal pot you can find so that the caramel heats evenly.
 * After removing the caramel, fill the pot you used with hot water immediately, and then return it to the heat, stirring constantly, until it boils. Then you should be able to simply pour the hot water down the drain - the pot will be very clean, since all of the sticky residue will have been dissolved.
 * If you decide to make wet caramel, it's better to tilt the pan than to stir it.

Warnings

 * Non-stick coatings may be damaged by the high heat and could leach into the caramel.
 * Tin-lined finishes can melt when cooking caramel.
 * Any splashing will permanently damage glass cooking surfaces. Be careful about resting the stirring spoon on glass cooking surfaces.

Things You'll Need

 * Pan
 * Spoon
 * Glasses
 * Oven Mitts
 * Long Sleeves

Related Tips and Steps

 * How to Make Dulce De Leche
 * How to Make Toffee Apples
 * How to Make Pecan Pralines
 * How to Make Sugar Glass

Sources and Citations
Wie man Karamell herstellt