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For everyone with a sweet tooth, caramel sauce is the ultimate dream.
Be it a topping for popcorn or ice cream, brownies, or cinnamon rolls; caramel sauce is the perfect choice for optimizing the fine combination between mild sweetness and saltiness.
That’s why it is frustrating when your homemade salted caramel sauce turns out grainy instead of smooth and creamy. Don’t worry – we know how to fix grainy caramel sauce. So, let’s get that smooth texture back!
How To Fix Grainy Caramel Sauce?
1. Corn Syrup
If you use granulated sugar to make your caramel sauce, it sometimes starts crystallizing after cooling down, leading to that grainy texture. In this case, it suggested that you add some corn syrup.
The corn syrup will inhibit the crystallization of the sugar, promising a smooth texture. However, if you don’t have corn syrup, you can use a little liquid honey to get rid of the issue.
2. Flame Matters
Whenever the recipe involves sugar and sweetness, cooking over a low flame is the right choice. This is because if you use a high flame setting, the sugar tends to get brown, and crystals are created.
Also, remember not to stir the caramel while it is heating up as this introduces air and leads to crystallization. You can scrape down the sides of the saucepan but try not to stir the caramel itself.
However, here’s where it becomes a little tricky. Undercooking can lead to crystallization as well. So, the minimum temperature should be 234-degrees Fahrenheit. A candy thermometer will come in handy here.
As for scraping the sides during the cooking process, you should use a wet pastry brush.
Last but not least, don’t scrape the sides when pouring the caramel sauce into the jar as this will transfer any sugar crystals on the sides into the caramel.
3. Lemon or Glycerin
When life gives you lemons, add a little to your caramel sauce to save it from crystallization (just be careful not to add too much).
So, if you are cooking your caramel sauce and crystals are appearing, we suggest adding one teaspoon of lemon juice. This will stop the crystallization right away.
However, if you don’t have a lemon or any bottled lemon juice, you can add a drop or two of glycerin, and it will serve the same purpose.
4. Put the Lid On
If you see the crystals in the initial stages, you should put the lid on the pot for around three minutes. This will make sure that all the sugar crystals dissolve thoroughly into the caramel sauce.
5. Glucose Syrup
For the people making caramel syrup from plain granulated sugar, adding a crystallization inhibitor will help a lot. We’ve already spoken about corn syrup and glucose syrup is another inhibitor.
Either of these inhibitors will inhibit the crystallization process and give you a smooth texture. Glucose syrup is readily available.
6. Peanuts
Well, who would have thought that peanuts would be your last resort for optimizing the consistency of the texture and reducing the graininess? They do work!
So, when your caramel sauce is almost cooked but is looking grainy, just toss in some peanuts, and the crystals will be taken care of.