Home boiled vs Factory boiled

[annika_j]

 For those of you who wondered whether boiling your own condensed milk for hours tasted different to the pre-boiled store bought dulche-de-lech/caramel...

It doesn't, I wasted 3 hours of my time waiting for caramel so you don't have to. Just buy the pre-made can. 

Comments

[radiantsoul]

I feel slightly ignorant that I never wondered this.

I am interested in the fluffy stuff inside Mars bars though. Not interested enough to try and make it myself though.

[stainsteelrat]

Lu's Mum used to make it lots in a pressure cooker - which are frightening things. Cooks in about 30% the time.

One advantage to home cooking it is that the shop bought stuff is still a little bit liquid-y. At home you can turn it into sliceable caramel!

[blogtard]

I'm not entirely sure what's going on in this post.

[annika_j]

Then you are missing out buddy.

I will explain at a time which isn't 11pm, and at a time I'm not tripping on Red bull.

[grayjedi]

To make caramel, you need corn syrup, butter and brown sugar. Add in sauce-pot. Melt together. Presto, caramel. We do it every holiday season to make Xmas caramel corn.

[annika_j]

For normal toffee I'd do it in a pan, (we don't get corn syrup over here, I normally just use butter and sugar) but the stuff made from condensed milk is something quite different in taste.

I think in the US Caramel is usually used to describe a chewy candy, isn't it? whereas over here it's usually used to describe a runny filling or sauce.

[grayjedi]

Over here, it can be a sauce of sorts, but it's thicker. Like maple syrup.

Of all the cultural differences between the US and the UK, caramel was not one I expected.