Plain Caramel
What it does
Brown colour.
How it's made
Made by heating (caramelising) sugars.
Plain caramel is the simplest of the four caramel colours, giving brown shades to foods and drinks such as spirits, vinegars, sauces and baked goods. It is made purely by heating sugars, with no other reactants, and is the closest to kitchen caramel.
It is produced by carefully heating a food carbohydrate — such as glucose syrup, sucrose or other sugars — under controlled conditions (a process called caramelisation). As the sugar heats it darkens and develops brown colour and characteristic flavours; the temperature, time and any acid or alkali used to speed the reaction are controlled to hit the required colour depth.
The resulting dark liquid or solid is standardised for colour strength. Because plain caramel uses only heat and sugar with no ammonium or sulphite compounds, it is the caramel class made without the reactants used in the other three types, and it is widely used where a natural browning is wanted.
Possible reactions
Generally well tolerated.