Caramel - The Sweet Sauce That Adds Taste To Your Life!

Caramel- mention of it itself brings a smile on everyone face. It gives a calming effect that soothes your soul. Its true food is something that has a direct connection to the soul.

People who love chocolates, cakes, and dessert dipped in sugary dips, their pathway to calmness has to be caramel.

Caramel is one of the most popular sugary syrups that is used with tones of desserts and chocolates. Caramel not only enhances the taste but also gives that gooey taste to every solid chocolate.

Now the question is what exactly is caramel? Caramel nothing but simply sugar that has been cooked for some time to form it into a liquid syrup. The sugar cooked until it becomes brown syrup which forms the typical color of caramel. In general, these granulated sugars have no smells and it has that simple vague taste like normal sugar does usually. But when these sugars are heated and cooked significantly to form this syrup, it turns into dark brown in color and gives out a unique aroma and flavor. After cooking these sugars become less sweet and has a unique taste that melts the heart.

The heat that is passed through the granulated sugars forces these sugars to break down into its components i.e. glucose and fructose. After a certain time, these molecules break down into other significant molecules that have quite a reaction with one another and finally forms hundreds of new components. For instance, some of it is phenols with a bitter taste, esters with fruity smells, and many others that have a buttery, sour, nutty, and malty tastes. All these mentioned are certain flavors and aromas of caramelized sugars.

The science of caramel.

How caramels are actually made?

Caramels are not that hard to make but to master its exact flavors are aromas are a different level issue in here. Caramels can be made homemade too.

• There are really two processes of making caramel and that is dry and wet.
• The dry method is really simple and that is what is more popular and is considered to be the basic way of making the caramel. The dry method involves simple heating the granulated sugars to a certain degree until it turns brown and liquid syrup.
• Though the method is simple and basic it requires very much care and attention during the process. As the sugar tends to turn dark brown in color in rapid succession due to the heat source, it should be carefully cooked so that it doesn't turn out to be overcooked. A pan with a wide surface is highly recommended while cooking the same so that the sugar cooks more evenly and the wet method is more of a complex though it is easy to conduct.
• Getting the desired flavor is a bit difficult through this process. Here in this method, the sucrose is moistened with a little water in a pan or any other suitable container. As the water dissolves it distributes the sugar in a good manner so that it can promote even browning of the sugar. In this process, the water totally boils off when the sugar caramelizes. This method takes a longer time than the dry method.

What can possibly go wrong in the process of making caramel?

• The caramel may burn: In the dry method of making the caramel, the sugar is heated up to a certain level where 80% of the water contents of the sugar have already evaporated. So as a result after this, the boiling point rises at a rapid succession which can easily over burn the sugar after crossing the required temperature range.
• The caramel can possibly turn grainy: This happens during the wet method of making the caramel. In this process, the sugar inclines to recrystallize more rapidly than in the dry method. So while cooking the syrup, the syrup may splash against the wall of the container which quickly turns back into crystal sugar. And if a single piece of this crystal falls in the syrup it turns it opaque and grainy through a chain reaction.

So, it is very essential to careful while making the caramel. Utmost care is required in both the processes of making caramel mentioned above.

Nutrition Facts.

Caramels usually don’t have any healthy nutritional value. But there are some nutrients that are present in caramel. Let’s take an instance on 39 calories of caramel. It has the following nutrients present in it:

• Total Fat- 0.8 gram with a daily value of 1%.
• Saturated fat- 0.3gram with a daily value of 1%.
• Cholesterol- 1 mg with a daily value of 0%.
• Sodium- 25 mg with a daily value of 1%.
• Total carbs- 7.8 gram with a daily value of 3%.
• Dietary fiber- 0
• Sugars- 6.6
• Protein- 0.5
• Calcium- 13.9
• Potassium- 21.6

ASAP Bars.

The unique texture and taste of caramel enhance the whole processing formula of ASAP Bars. The caramel adds subsequent sugary taste to these nutritional bars and gives a gooey texture. As you bite into these bars you will get the unique flavor of caramel that will make your taste buds happy and you will more of these bars.

As these bars are highly nutritional with many other fruits and elements, you don't have to think about your health concerns while having these bars for your particular snacks or whatever. These bars are good for every individual ranging from every age. Especially children will love this bar because of its unique taste and flavors.

And the best part is you don't even have to worry about the health ailments as these bars have enough nutrients which they get from the ingredients that are mixed in it. Some of the ingredients are almonds, strawberry, dark chocolate, etc. that highly enhances the nutritional value of these bars.