Experimenting with caramels

[patti_h]

I would be curious to hear from others about what sorts of things they have done to change caramel recipes. My interest comes from my reading of the Genin caramel thread about 100 times. I finally attempted the recipe yesterday. I feel like I have gotten a start, but will make some adaptations to get what I want. First, the fruit flavor was not strong enough in my opinion (I used pureed mango with some reduced passionfruit juice). I cooked it on an induction burner, but I got impatient because I was on call so I switched to the stovetop for the last 20 degrees. It got much darker on the stovetop and the bottom of the pan scorched a little. It is a nice soft caramel but still holds shape when cut and the flavor and texture are good. I would like the fruit flavor to be the star of it and I would like the caramel to be lighter.

So, next attempt, I am going to use some passionfruit juice which I drastically reduced and I will cook it the entire way through on induction. I may go a degree or two more to make it a little firmer. I also have some Indian Mango Powder which I think I will blend into the butter before adding it to the recipe.

SO, I am just curious what others have done with caramel- I know Tikidoc started a thread about wanting to change texture, but I am also curious as to what sort of changes to flavor or mouthfeel people have made. I am also curious if anyone has ever gotten their caramel to be so light in color like the one from Genin that someone posted a link to- it was golden/yellow instead of brown.

Kerri posted about making a foie caramel- I think it is interesting that you could exchange the butter for duckfat. I imagine there are all sorts of substitutions that could be made....

[CatGirl27]

I would be curious to hear from others about what sorts of things they have done to change caramel recipes. My interest comes from my reading of the Genin caramel thread about 100 times. I finally attempted the recipe yesterday. I feel like I have gotten a start, but will make some adaptations to get what I want. First, the fruit flavor was not strong enough in my opinion (I used pureed mango with some reduced passionfruit juice). I cooked it on an induction burner, but I got impatient because I was on call so I switched to the stovetop for the last 20 degrees. It got much darker on the stovetop and the bottom of the pan scorched a little. It is a nice soft caramel but still holds shape when cut and the flavor and texture are good. I would like the fruit flavor to be the star of it and I would like the caramel to be lighter.

So, next attempt, I am going to use some passionfruit juice which I drastically reduced and I will cook it the entire way through on induction. I may go a degree or two more to make it a little firmer. I also have some Indian Mango Powder which I think I will blend into the butter before adding it to the recipe.

SO, I am just curious what others have done with caramel- I know Tikidoc started a thread about wanting to change texture, but I am also curious as to what sort of changes to flavor or mouthfeel people have made. I am also curious if anyone has ever gotten their caramel to be so light in color like the one from Genin that someone posted a link to- it was golden/yellow instead of brown.

Kerri posted about making a foie caramel- I think it is interesting that you could exchange the butter for duckfat. I imagine there are all sorts of substitutions that could be made....

Hello, I'm new to the forums (sorry to be so late).

I love the idea of this post since I am so into caramels right now. I'm only a beginner. I've made a butter caramel, which was good. I have also made a sea salt popcorn and have tried a regular popcorn caramel recipe - which used baking soda - making the caramel foan and turn really light. ( I prefer the latter). And I'm ready to make a Japanese caramel (Morinaga) with different flavorings. The Japanese makes some very interesting flavors (lamb and curry?). But obsessing about caramel and researching the different types, tastes and textures, i'm ready to experiment.

I love the idea of dulce de leche made with goats milk. And have you ever had a churro... with goat cheese mixed into the batter? I made it using Fany Gerson's churro recipe from her My Sweet Mexico book. It was tangy and because of the caramelized sugar, tasted wonderful. Now I want to add it to my caramel candy in small chunks. How I would go about adding the cheese and keeping the chunks intact and suspended in the hot caramel, for a nice taste in each bite, I do not know. *Sigh*

[Chris Hennes]

Welcome, CatGirl27—I've played around with caramel a little and have had the best luck using concentrated extracts when I want a particular flavor to really shine through. Caramel itself is such a strong flavor that if you want, say, a fruit flavor to dominate it you really have to work at using the most intense form you can get your hands on (at least, that's been my experience). I haven't really played with textures much but I'd be interested to hear what other ideas people have.

[tikidoc]

Yup, agree with Chris. Reduced juice may not be enough. My apple caramel has pretty good apple flavor, and the apple comes from an apple jelly that is very, very reduced cider (http://woodscidermil...CiderJelly.html, they use juice from 30-50 apples per pound of jelly). Amoretti makes some good fruit concentrates that would probably do well too. I was planning to try some of them this weekend, I'll let you know how they go.

I was playing with texture to make a bon bon filling. But I can tell you that my original caramel is based on Ina Garten's fleur de sel caramel recipe - I reduced the cream from 1 cup to 3/4 and added 1/2 cup of the cider jelly. This resulted in a softer caramel than the original recipe, but still firm enough to cut. The Amoretti extracts are more concentrated than the cider jelly, so keeping the total liquid volume the same will likely be easier to do with their products.

Edited June 19, 2012 by tikidoc (log)

[Chocolot]

If you want light colored caramels, cook them as fast as you can without scorching. You won't give the Maillard reaction a chance! Also, don't use any baking soda as this will cause the mass to darken and increase Maillard. If you need more standup quality, reduce the glucose as this causes cold flow and/or increase the milk solids.

[CatGirl27]

Welcome, CatGirl27—I've played around with caramel a little and have had the best luck using concentrated extracts when I want a particular flavor to really shine through. Caramel itself is such a strong flavor that if you want, say, a fruit flavor to dominate it you really have to work at using the most intense form you can get your hands on (at least, that's been my experience). I haven't really played with textures much but I'd be interested to hear what other ideas people have.

Thanks. I was thinking of adding homemade fruit paste in the last few minutes of boiling. I don't know why. I had fruit on hand and thought it might be a good idea. I'll let you know how it goes. Now how about using rich tangy/ savory cheese - Like blue or goat cheese? I know sour cream and even creame fraiche have been used. I have some experimenting to do. Thx

[CatGirl27]

Yup, agree with Chris. Reduced juice may not be enough. My apple caramel has pretty good apple flavor, and the apple comes from an apple jelly that is very, very reduced cider (http://woodscidermil...CiderJelly.html, they use juice from 30-50 apples per pound of jelly). Amoretti makes some good fruit concentrates that would probably do well too. I was planning to try some of them this weekend, I'll let you know how they go.

I was playing with texture to make a bon bon filling. But I can tell you that my original caramel is based on Ina Garten's fleur de sel caramel recipe - I reduced the cream from 1 cup to 3/4 and added 1/2 cup of the cider jelly. This resulted in a softer caramel than the original recipe, but still firm enough to cut. The Amoretti extracts are more concentrated than the cider jelly, so keeping the total liquid volume the same will likely be easier to do with their products.

Thanks for the tip. I was pulling my hair looking for great fruit concentrates. Will try.