National Caramel Day

What the day is

National Caramel Day is observed on April 5. Caramel covers several related things: the amber syrup made from cooked sugar, the soft chewy candy made with dairy, and the sauce poured over desserts.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented.

The chemistry is worth knowing because it explains every practical rule about making it. Caramelization begins around 170 degrees Celsius, when sugar molecules break apart and recombine into hundreds of new compounds, producing color, bitterness and aroma that plain sugar has none of. It is purely a sugar reaction and needs nothing else present.

Caramel candy is a different animal. Adding cream, butter or milk introduces proteins, which means the Maillard reaction runs alongside caramelization, and the two together give the deeper, rounder flavor of a chewy caramel compared with a plain sugar caramel. That is also why dairy caramels can be cooked at lower temperatures.

Texture is set entirely by final temperature. A sauce is taken off early, a soft chewy caramel around the firm-ball stage, and a hard caramel or brittle considerably hotter. A thermometer removes all the guesswork, and the difference between a chewy and a rock-hard result is only a few degrees.

Salted caramel is a relatively recent addition, generally credited to the Breton chocolatier Henri Le Roux in the 1970s, using the salted butter that is standard in Brittany. It spread globally decades later.

How to take part

• Do not stir a dry caramel. Swirl the pan instead; stirring encourages the sugar to crystallize into grit.
• Warm the cream before adding it. Cold cream hitting hot sugar erupts violently and seizes the caramel.
• Take it further than feels safe. Pale caramel tastes of little; the flavor arrives just before the point of burning.
• Keep a bowl of ice water nearby. Molten sugar sticks to skin and burns severely.
• Soak the pan rather than scrubbing it. Hot water dissolves hardened caramel on its own.