Sugar, Sugar! It’s all about Candy!
Episode 42: I took notes so you didn’t have to….today we are talking with Caila from Red Kite Candy!
If you have a sweet tooth than this episode is for you! Today we are talking to Caila from Red Kite Candy!!! If you live in VT, NH or heck New England…stop by and buy all of the caramels. They are so darn good!
Now before we get started I think we need to define what is caramel vs toffee vs butterscotch. Each is slightly different and I think this website does a great job explaining it! Mental Floss says, “Caramel is a mix of white granulated sugar, heavy whipping cream, butter, and a dash of vanilla. Butterscotch, on the other hand, is made with brown sugar instead.
Butterscotch originally was just a hard candy. The suffix "scotch" is not related to alcohol, but to the method of cutting. Hard candy is difficult to break into clean pieces, so the candy is "scotched" (scored) to make it easy to cut later.
As for toffee, it has the same ingredients as butterscotch but is cooked longer. Toffee is cooked until the hard-crack stage, meaning there is a 99 percent sugar concentration.”
You will need a candy thermometer and can pick one up here.
There is really two ways to make caramel. The dry method and wet method. The blog, the fork bite says, “#1 dry method
Creating caramel by the so-called “dry method” relies on heating the sugar on its own in a dry pan until it begins to liquefy and turn brown.
If you use this particular method, you have to keep a very close eye on the process as sugar tends to darken rapidly and un-evenly if there are any hotspots either in the pan or the heat source.
When using this method, it is best to use a pan that has a wide surface area. It enables the sugar to be spread out in a thin layer, which means that it will heat and begin to brown more evenly.
#2 wet method
This second method of creating caramel involves adding moisture to the sugar. This is done by adding water. As the water dissolves, it distributes its way through the sugar and produces a more even browning effect.
A particular advantage of making caramel via the wet method is that the evaporation of the water means a longer processing time during which the sugar develops more complex flavors.
Another advantage of the wet, slower method is that it makes it easier to control the caramel’s ever-changing color. It’s much simpler to get it in the color you prefer.”
So now that you have picked your method of choice… and say your caramel is not coming out…can you save a crystallized caramel? Sort of, check out this article which deep dives more into.
Let’s talk about chocolate for a second. My favorite brands are Valrhona and Callebaut. You want to work with the best chocolate you can afford to. And when you have left over chocolate store it in a cool, dark and dry place so it doesn’t bloom on you. It’s still edible but it won’t preform as well.
How do temper chocolate….well take a look this article and remember to take your time, use good chocolate with cocoa butter in it and again take you time!
Recipes:
Now go forth and cook/eat some amazing food!!
Beth Fuller is a Boston based Food, Product and Lifestyle Photographer. One of the best ways to support the podcast and Beth is to write a review wherever you listen, like the podcast on your favorite platform and please keep Beth in mind for any photography projects as a gal has got to pay her bills!
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xoxo
Beth
