Get Sweet Nut Caramel Without Melting Sugar
When you think about making caramel, you usually think of melting it on the stove until it turns into a thick, rich, flavorful liquid, but in reality, you can caramelize the sugar by keeping it in a solid granular form .
Yes, you read that correctly. It may sound like magic, but it’s actually science. The caramelization process relies on thermal decomposition rather than a phase transition known as “melting”. When you melt something, like ice, the molecular structure of the substance remains the same – water remains water, be it an ice cube or a puddle – but when you heat sucrose (table sugar), the end product becomes something completely different. where you started from. As confectionery genius Stella Parks explains in Serious Eats , you actually get a whole host of delicious new molecules:
In fact, caramel is so unlike sucrose C12H22O11 that its nature cannot be summed up in a single chemical formula. Instead, it is a mixture of caramelan (C15H18O9), caramelan (C12H9O9), caramelan (C36H48O24), caramelene (C36H25O25), caramelin (C24H26O13), and over a thousand other compounds, “whose names,” as one scientist complained in 1894, “science seems , invented in a fit of despair. “
It seems that melting and caramelization are inextricably linked, but in reality this is only true at high temperatures. You should definitely, no doubt, click the link below to familiarize yourself with all the interesting science behind this process, but to caramelize sugar while keeping it solid, all you have to do is roast it in the oven at 300 ° F.
Why do you need it? First, you can replace the cup with a cup of granulated white sugar, adding depth and flavor without adding liquid. This means that cakes, meringues and fragile froths can get a dose of toasted, roasted caramel flavor without the fear of passing out. Literally any recipe that contains white sugar can be a caramel-flavored version of that recipe without adjusting the size or ratio. I don’t know about you, but this news really excited me, and I plan to caramelize everything , starting with homemade marshmallows.