Caramel candies, a cheap but not always healthy pleasure, harm to caramel. Caramel candies: how to choose
All small children simply love to eat lollipops, considering this activity the greatest happiness in their lives. Many parents delight their offspring with the purchase of various “chupa chups”, but they do not think about what kind of poison they are sending into the child’s body, and what the consequences of such a purchase may be. That is why, if there are kids in the family, then a caring mother should not be lazy, because you can easily make the same “cockerel on a stick” at home. The main thing is to be patient, have all the necessary ingredients, free time, a good mood and, of course, a proven culinary recipe. So how to make sweets at home so that they don’t just have a presentable appearance appearance, but also unforgettable taste qualities, thereby becoming the “taste of childhood”.
The first recipe is extremely easy to prepare, and to reproduce it at home you will only need 350 grams of granulated sugar and four tablespoons of ordinary water from a kettle. So, to prepare caramel you need to take a small pan, preferably with a double or thick bottom. This is necessary so that the sugar does not burn over the fire and subsequently does not have a bitter taste, while achieving the desired consistency. When the required container is selected, pour all the granulated sugar into it according to the recipe and place on moderate heat. You cannot move away from the pan, because within a few minutes the sugar will begin to noticeably melt. It is extremely important to stir it continuously and do not remove it from low heat until it turns into a homogeneous brown mass.
After about ten minutes, remove the semi-finished caramel from the heat and carefully add four tablespoons of water to it, as stated in the recipe, stirring thoroughly until all the lumps completely disappear. For these purposes, it is best to use a wooden spoon, and when lumps form, additionally melt them over low heat for a couple of minutes, while the caramel should not burn or change its color. As soon as the resulting mass becomes homogeneous, you can pour it into special molds to create sweets, or you can independently sculpt original and symbolic figures for further decoration of dessert dishes. As a rule, the shape and size of sweets depend solely on the imagination of each housewife and, of course, the free time she has. That's all, the children's joy is ready.
However, there is another simple recipe for making caramel at home. To prepare it you will definitely need three tablespoons of granulated sugar, a spoonful of vegetable oil and a couple of dessert spoons of lemon juice. Of course, lemon concentrate can be replaced with water (many do this), but its use gives the finished candies an original taste. So, place the specified amount of sugar in a frying pan and turn on medium heat. Stir it constantly with a wooden spoon until the caramelized mass becomes liquid and homogeneous. After this, carefully pour in the required volume of lemon juice, avoiding steam burns, and also mix thoroughly, promptly preventing the appearance of lumps and lumps of caramel. In this way add and vegetable oil for taste.
Before you make candy at home, you need to check if there is a special mold in your house that allows you to create original “sugar figures” that are loved by all children. You can also make homemade caramel using the third recipe, which is offered below. First of all, purchase the following ingredients: granulated sugar in the amount of one glass, 50 grams of milk, butter in the amount of 100 grams, as well as vanillin and a couple of tablespoons of melted flower honey. When all the products are prepared, you can start preparing delicious sucking sweets. First of all, thoroughly melt the required amount of sugar in a saucepan with a thick bottom until liquid caramel forms, then pour in 50 grams of milk and continue cooking over moderate heat for another ten minutes.
The most important thing is not to leave the kitchen, otherwise the sugar may burn a little, change the color of the caramel and give it a bitter taste, thereby spoiling the children's appetite. After regularly kneading the homogeneous mass, add honey and oil to it in the above proportions. As a rule, vanillin is added optionally only if there are people in the family with a sweet tooth who are always “not sweet.” Once the caramel has thickened, turn off the heat and remove the pan from gas stove. Then carefully place it on parchment that has been previously prepared and generously greased with butter to further give the candies the desired shape. When the hot brown caramel becomes warm, you need to cut it in such a way that its pieces resemble the shape of everyone’s favorite candies in childhood.
In fact, all the recipes proposed above are identical, and are based on traditional melting of granulated sugar over a fire. The remaining ingredients are chosen at your own discretion and according to the children's taste preferences, and the shape and size of the candies completely depend on the flight of fancy and the availability of a special form from the hostess. If you want to make lollipops, you can use regular toothpicks or skewers for canapés as a stick. In addition, you can add ground nuts, lemon concentrate, syrups of various fruits or condensed milk to homemade caramel. So every child will find their own unforgettable taste of homemade candy.
Do you want to pamper yourself and your family? delicious sweets, but don’t want to buy sweets in the store? Then I suggest making candy at home yourself. There is no sweet “chemistry” in them and you will know everything useful composition products.
Recipe contents:
Caramel candies- a simple and interesting delicacy. To obtain them, it will be enough to put sugar in a hot liquid, wait for it to melt and thicken the mass. That's the whole secret of making caramel sweets. But when talking about a reliable and trouble-free way to create caramel candies, you still need to understand the terms. So, the word “candy” originates from the Latin word “confectum”, which means “made”. So this word is firmly attached to sweets.
Lollipops, hard candies with filling, monpensiers - these are all varieties of caramel familiar from childhood. The sweet and sticky caramel mass has been brewed for a very long time. Today, caramel is the most affordable and popular type of candy out of the huge variety of it. Caramel is a hard and plastic mass that consists of sucrose or glucose and is obtained by heating sugar. In production, the following ratio is usually used: 2:1 sugar and molasses. At home, caramel is made from water/milk/sour cream and sugar, and the ratio of products is taken - tbsp. granulated sugar and 3 tbsp. liquids. Although this is all individual.
The caramel can be boiled for a short period of time until it reaches a liquid consistency. This is used to decorate sweet salads, desserts, cakes, fruits, and ice cream. And if you boil it for a longer time, you will get real candies. We'll talk about them below.
- Calorie content per 100 g - 382 kcal.
- Number of servings - 250-300 g
- Cooking time - Half an hour for boiling the mass, plus 1-2 hours for the caramel to harden
Ingredients:
- Milk - 500 ml
- Vanilla sugar - 10 g
- Sugar - 250 g
Step-by-step preparation of caramel sweets:
1. Choose a pan with a thick bottom. The mass will not burn in it and heat will spread evenly. Pour milk into it and add sugar.
2. Place on the stove and boil. When you see bubbles, reduce the temperature to medium and continue to simmer the mixture.
3. The liquid will boil and bubbles will form all the time. It can rise with strong heating, then lower the temperature so that the milk does not escape. For the same reason, choose a larger pan so that if the milk rises, it will not escape from it.
4. As the milk boils, it will thicken and acquire a caramel color. Depending on how long you boil it, the candy will be of this color, from light beige to brown. In addition, keep in mind that when it hardens, the mass will become even denser and harder. At the end of cooking, add vanillin to the mixture and stir until it is completely dissolved.
5. Select molds for candies. It is advisable that these are special small silicone molds, because... It is easy to remove the finished product from them. Carefully pour the thickened milk liquid over them and place them in the refrigerator to cool.
“It’s good to wander around the world with caramel on your cheek. And take another one for a friend in your pocket as a reserve..." - I remember the children's song Funtik from the old Soviet cartoon, when you unwrap the caramel candy wrapper.
Caramel(from French caramel, from Late Latin cannamella - sugar cane) is a confectionery product made from a mass that is obtained by heating sugar or boiling a sugar solution (caramelization).
Caramels, a favorite since childhood, are a popular and affordable delicacy, both in terms of price and variety. You can't imagine sweet New Year's gifts without caramel candies, it’s rare that a grandmother won’t give her beloved grandchildren a handful of candies. All this is the taste of childhood, nostalgia, which is why caramel candies still remain at the peak of their fame.
However, can they always be safe for human health? How to choose quality caramel candies?
All caramels can be divided into 2 groups:
- lollipops. They are made entirely from caramel mass. They can take the form of dragees (monpensiers), lollipops, wrapped lollipops (either single or packaged in several pieces). They can be vitamin and medicinal (cough lozenges, sore throat lozenges), while the necessary ingredients and additives (herbal extracts, propolis, pollen, etc.) are added to the sugar mass.
- caramels with filling. Caramel mass and filler are used.
Quality caramel candies are creamy, creamy white or light brown (due to the cocoa powder they contain) in color. If the caramel has too bright colors (red, orange, blue), artificial colors and flavors were added during production, some of which may pose a health hazard.
An equally important parameter for the quality of caramel is the filling.
According to the type of filling, caramel candies can be divided into the following groups:
Caramel with fruit and berry filling.
Caramel with fondant filling,
Caramel candies with chocolate filling,
Caramel with butter and sugar filling,
Caramels with nut, halvicha fillings, praline,
Caramel candies with jelly filling,
Caramel with liqueur filling.
The safest fruit and berry filling is added to candies in the form of puree. It is dark colored and has a semi-liquid structure. This fruit and berry puree is prepared from apples, plums, and apricots.
Fillings made from marzipan and chocolate and nut mass are also considered safe. They can be given to children without fear.
Any milk fillings are made from refractory fat, which is not completely digested in the human body. Therefore, it can be harmful to health. Fillings with refreshing properties are no less dangerous. They contain the chemical menthol, one of the most harmful flavorings.
Caramel candies by location and number of fillings can be:
With one filling
With double filling,
With several fillings
With a filling that alternates layers with caramel mass.
Caramel candies also differ in the method of surface treatment:
Glossy. A thin layer of wax, fat or talc is applied to the surface of the caramel;
Glazed. The candy is covered with a thin layer of chocolate mass;
Sprinkled. The top layer of such caramel consists of granulated sugar or powder mixed with cocoa powder;
Dried. The surface of the candy is poured with hot sugar syrup, then sprinkle with a mixture of granulated sugar and cocoa powder or powdered sugar, and gloss.
General rules for choosing caramel candies
1. When buying candy, you should definitely pay attention to the expiration date. Regular caramel candies can be stored for no more than one year.
2. If, when unwrapping the candy wrapper, it was discovered that the sweetness has flowed or has a wet surface, it is better to refuse such caramel. A damp surface is a good environment for the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria.
3. You should not eat candy if the filling tastes like burnt puree.
4. The surface of the caramel candy should be smooth, and the filling should not bleed through the seams.
By choosing high-quality caramel candies, you can not only enjoy the taste of your favorite delicacy, but also protect yourself and your family from the influence of low-quality products on the body.
The history of the creation of the first caramel dates back to ancient times, when people discovered sugar cane and tried to fry it over a fire. What they got as a result was vaguely reminiscent of a modern one. By melting sugar, confectioners obtain a delicious syrup, which, after cooling, turns into hardened candies. These Leninists are brittle and very sweet, and by diluting the liquid with fruit juices, cooks make caramels with different flavors.
Later, confectioners began to add crushed nuts to the caramel mass and a new type of candy appeared in production - roasted nuts. Interestingly, one of the varieties of caramel - plastic - is used to decorate other delicacies, such as cakes, pastries or ice cream. So, history dates back to ancient times. The hard type of caramel is necessary for making sweets, as well as decorations for cakes or original bouquets colors.
Benefits of caramel sweets
Caramel has found its adherents among all age groups and has become one of the most popular sweets of all time due to its benefits such as:- are light in weight - you can simply carry them with you in your bag or backpack for a quick snack;
- reliable wrapper - you can take it with you on any trip, the candies are protected from the external environment or dust;
- combination of compact size and bright design will become a good gift for children or a mini-present for a colleague.
Varieties of caramel candies
Now there is a huge selection of caramels with different flavors, different shapes and colors, so there's a candy to suit almost any preference. Confectioners produce classic caramels, candies with liquid or viscous filling, soft and milky sweets, with vitamins or natural fruit ingredients, and even medicinal caramels that will help cure a cough or soothe a sore throat. So, caramel candies are not only tasty, but also healthy.Multi-colored aromatic caramels are familiar to everyone since childhood. You can roll them in your mouth, hold them behind your cheek, like in a song, or crunch them quietly in your rush to get to the juicy filling.
No one will remember who and how first invented caramel. It is only known that even in ancient times people feasted on sugar cane fried over a fire. The sweet juice contained in its stems lost moisture when heated, turning into a viscous sticky crust. It was she who became the progenitor of modern caramel, so in its production it is impossible to do without sugar: there are no other substances in the world that can turn into such a viscous sweet mass. Essentially, caramels are sweets made from sugar: not counting tasty impurities, more than 80% of caramel consists of sugar.
Rot Front can be considered the queen of caramel among domestic confectionery factories. It was with the production of sugar candies back in 1826 that the history of the Lenov trading house began, which later became a world-famous enterprise. Their multi-colored caramels, lollipops, and sweets already in the first years of production became famous throughout Moscow and even beyond its borders. They were inexpensive, and besides, the merchant who founded the factory initially relied on the products good quality, so the candies from the Lenovs were scattered more than hot cakes. The production and sale of caramel was the work of life for the Lenov family!
After the revolution, when the largest confectionery factories were nationalized, Babaev's sweets came to the forefront in terms of production volume. Along with the Red October factory, all three still remain the most famous and sought-after manufacturers of caramel and other confectionery products.
The assortment of caramel is very diverse. The simplest candy is a lollipop. It consists only of caramel mass - boiled sugar-treacle syrup and all sorts of aromatic and coloring additives. High-quality candies have a uniform structure and are somewhat reminiscent of multi-colored pieces of glass. Only edible and very tasty!
Layered caramel looks completely different. It is matte and consists of many thin layers. They are formed when the caramel mass is kneaded for a long time, stretching and saturating with oxygen.
Despite the fact that caramel candies consist of 70-80% sugar, they are rarely cloying. Sometimes their sweetness is so soft and unobtrusive that it seems as if they are sugar-free candies. It's all about our perception: caramel melts in the mouth in thin layers and does not overload our receptors, so its sweetness seems soft to us, and its taste reveals all its facets and shades.
Filled caramel candies are more difficult to produce and have a more interesting taste, unlike candies. Inside there may be fruit jelly or jam, creamy or chocolate cream– in a word, the filling’s texture differs sharply from the caramel shell. In addition, these candies are usually coated with chocolate glaze - this creates a completely special delicacy that combines not only several different flavors (filling, glaze, caramel), but also three completely different textures at once.
Sugar caramels and lollipops are famous as the most inexpensive sweets. This is not surprising: sugar is a completely affordable product, so even the use of expensive additional ingredients has virtually no effect on the cost of the finished sweets. You can buy them both in packaged bags and by weight. But you usually won’t find caramel candies in gift format, for example, for birthdays – they are considered too everyday and cheap for that. The only exception is New Year's sets for children, which combine chocolates, caramels, and many other sweets.
But soft caramel can often be found in the filling of beautiful chocolates in boxes, which are not a shame to give even to the most demanding hero of the day.
Soft caramel
Soft caramel is a completely different product than sugar. It does not hold its shape well, so it is usually added as a filling to other candies. Sticky and melting soft caramel often contains milk or cream, which gives it a taste similar to boiled condensed milk. Loose candies with such caramel are often bought for making candy bouquets: bright, elegant wrappers and delicate taste make them an excellent celebratory option. For such crafts, it is beneficial to buy them in bulk from the manufacturer. This way you can be completely confident that these are good, high-quality candies, and besides, the price per kg for them will be lower than in a regular chain supermarket.
The Alyonka online store allows you to buy both caramel candies by weight and packaged in bags of 200-250 g. Just go to the official website, select the desired options and order. The candies will arrive with delivery the very next day!