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Step 3The Cold Water Test
You will feel like a total champ when you do this right.
Cold Water Test:
1. While your cauldron of bubbling brown goodness is doing its thing, take a spoonful of it and drop it into a bowl or cup of cold water.
2. Give it a few seconds to cool.
3. Fish around in the bowl or cup of cold water and try to retrieve the caramel and make a little ball with it.
Several things can happen.
If you stick your fingers into the bowl, pull out a gooey mess and you can't do anything but smear the caramel, you need to boil the caramel some more. There is still too much water in your caramel and the concentration of sugar is too low. The caramel may even form little threads in the water, but if you cannot get the threads to form into a ball, you have some more boiling to do.
Thread Stage
If you are able to form a ball with your cooled caramel, but it slowly flattens when it is sitting on your hand or the counter, you have reached the "Soft Ball" stage. This is exciting because you are close to the right caramel, and you will need to check the caramel every minute or so to make sure that you don't go past it.
Soft Ball Stage
Firm Ball Stage
When you form a ball with the cooled caramel and it stays like a ball in your hand, that is far enough. You have reached the right concentration of sugar and you can turn off the heat.
The videos I've posted show the "Thread" stage, the "Soft Ball" stage, and the "Firm Ball" stage.
Cold Water Test:
1. While your cauldron of bubbling brown goodness is doing its thing, take a spoonful of it and drop it into a bowl or cup of cold water.
2. Give it a few seconds to cool.
3. Fish around in the bowl or cup of cold water and try to retrieve the caramel and make a little ball with it.
Several things can happen.
If you stick your fingers into the bowl, pull out a gooey mess and you can't do anything but smear the caramel, you need to boil the caramel some more. There is still too much water in your caramel and the concentration of sugar is too low. The caramel may even form little threads in the water, but if you cannot get the threads to form into a ball, you have some more boiling to do.
Thread Stage
If you are able to form a ball with your cooled caramel, but it slowly flattens when it is sitting on your hand or the counter, you have reached the "Soft Ball" stage. This is exciting because you are close to the right caramel, and you will need to check the caramel every minute or so to make sure that you don't go past it.
Soft Ball Stage
Firm Ball Stage
When you form a ball with the cooled caramel and it stays like a ball in your hand, that is far enough. You have reached the right concentration of sugar and you can turn off the heat.
The videos I've posted show the "Thread" stage, the "Soft Ball" stage, and the "Firm Ball" stage.
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