Spring Caramel

Spring Caramel

In the article about caramel’s history, we focused on the four ingredients that make caramel the masterpiece that it is; sugar, water, and fat. When I readied to share the recipe for the caramel that we dip, to my utter shock, I found additional ingredients, corn syrup, vanilla, and a touch of salt.

That discovery demands an explanation, or clarification, or rebuttal, whichever you choose. Was the previous article wrong, naive, or just inaccurate?

So, delving into the corn syrup ingredient controversy, I found myself vindicated. Corn syrup is not an additional ingredient at all, it’s just another form of caramel’s sugar. Ha!

 But to really understand, you don’t want to miss the post about why and how two recipes with ingredients so different than just water, sugar, and fat, make essentially the same product. 

But enough pontificating here’s our Spring Caramel recipe.

This caramel recipe is the recipe we use for making caramel corn. Here I share both the caramel and the popcorn recipe. Here you go.

1 lb. brown sugar (2 cups = 1 pound)

2 lbs. white sugar

1 large can Evaporated milk

2 cups whipping cream

1/4 lb. butter

2 cups white Karo

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla.

The first thing is to pop the popcorn. No microwave trash or tricky stuff here. We use a large 8 qt. pot and put 2 tablespoons of oil with 1 cup of Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn on high heat and stir with a spoon until the first kernel pops. You can watch all the kernels pop all over the place or put the lid on. 

By stirring the kernels in the hot oil, they heat evenly and will thus pop feverishly, evenly, and quickly. I have multiple huge bowls ready to receive the popped corn.  We make 4 to 5 batches of popped corn. To remove any un-popped kernels, I of course wash my hands then take handfuls of popcorn and with open fingers, shake out any kernels and transfer the corn to another bowl until we have removed as many un-popped kernels as possible.)

Then we make the caramel.

In a large 8-quart pot, we melt the butter, add the sugars, evaporated milk, and cream. Bring these to a boil stirring constantly.

Once you reach the boiling point, remove from the heat, and add the two cups of corn syrup and the salt. Put it back on the stove and stir constantly. During the boiling process, much of the water boils out and the caramel becomes thicker and stickier. 

In Utah where we are, we cook to the softball stage which is 230 degrees. One degree one way or another will make it gooeyier or crunchier. We take it off the heat, add the one teaspoon of vanilla, and stir it in.

Then we pour it over the popcorn in small batches. We put about four to five cups of popcorn into an empty bowl and pour a drizzle of caramel over it as we stir.

Once the popcorn is covered, place it on a buttered cookie sheet or platter and continue the process until you’ve covered all the corn. You get to choose how thick to make the caramel on the corn. Some like it light and others like it thick.

Pour over popcorn.  Use warm corn if possible.  When the caramel is ready, Kent will put about 4 cups of popcorn into an empty bowl and Marca will pour a drizzle of caramel over it while Kent stirs the corn to get it covered with the caramel.  Kent has buttered 4 cookie sheets ready for the caramel corn.  He keeps doing that same thing until the caramel is used up.

If you like Cracker Jacks add peanuts, but Cracker Jacks will never match up to this caramel corn.