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Step 2What's going on in the pot?
When you are making caramel for your caramel apples, you are heating your sweet mixture until the right amount of water boils off. As the water boils off, the concentration of sugar in the mixture increases. With caramel, you are shooting for a sugar concentration of around 87%. DON'T PANIC! Knowing that you must get the sugar concentration up to around 87% has nothing to do with actually making the apples. In fact, forget I mentioned any kind of number. The thing you need to burn into your mind is this: "Firm Ball".
As the concentration of sugar in your slurry goes up, the properties of the cooled caramel will change. Chewy, yet firm enough to hold it's shape and stick to the apple is the kind of caramel we want. If you don't cook enough of the water out, you will have soupy caramel that tastes awesome, but will migrate off of your apples as it cools. If you cook too much of the water out, you will have brittle caramel. The brittle caramel still tastes awesome, and can even look like the perfect caramel and stay on the apple, but when a small child tries to bite into their caramel apple, the caramel will shatter into a million pieces and get all over their costume and the floor. It will be easier to make good caramel than to explain recrystallization to a disappointed child.
There are interesting stages of candy all the way from caramel syrup to burnt sugar, but since we are making caramel apples, we'll focus on the "Firm Ball" window. If you would like a chart of the temperatures and the corresponding concentrations of sugar, you can look here on wikipedia: Sugar Chart. The firm ball stage is 244-248 degrees F / 118-120 degrees C and also happens to be a very delicious stage.
As the concentration of sugar in your slurry goes up, the properties of the cooled caramel will change. Chewy, yet firm enough to hold it's shape and stick to the apple is the kind of caramel we want. If you don't cook enough of the water out, you will have soupy caramel that tastes awesome, but will migrate off of your apples as it cools. If you cook too much of the water out, you will have brittle caramel. The brittle caramel still tastes awesome, and can even look like the perfect caramel and stay on the apple, but when a small child tries to bite into their caramel apple, the caramel will shatter into a million pieces and get all over their costume and the floor. It will be easier to make good caramel than to explain recrystallization to a disappointed child.
There are interesting stages of candy all the way from caramel syrup to burnt sugar, but since we are making caramel apples, we'll focus on the "Firm Ball" window. If you would like a chart of the temperatures and the corresponding concentrations of sugar, you can look here on wikipedia: Sugar Chart. The firm ball stage is 244-248 degrees F / 118-120 degrees C and also happens to be a very delicious stage.
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Oct 29, 2008. 1:03 PMzachary978
says:
"It will be easier to make good caramel than to explain recrystallization to a disappointed child. " lawl
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