A sticky sweet mess

Dear Reader,

In lieu of sleeping, the cruel mistress that is Insomnia often demands that I peruse Wikipedia in the middle of the night.


In submitting to her wishes, I happened upon a questionable post under the Caramel listing.
Here is the original post:

Caramel sauce[edit]

Caramel sauce is made by mixing hot caramel with some combination of cream, milk, and water; butterscotch sauce uses brown sugar and adds butter.^[8]Caramel sauce is used for a variety of desserts, notably crème caramel or flan.

Caramel candy[edit]

Caramel candy is a soft, dense, chewy candy made by boiling a mixture of milk or cream, sugar(s), butter, and vanilla (or vanilla flavoring). The sugar(s) are heated separately to reach 170 °C (340 °F), caramelizing them before the other ingredients are added.^[9] Alternatively, all ingredients may be cooked together; in this procedure, the mixture is not heated above the firm ball stage (120 °C [250 °F]), so that caramelization of the milk occurs but not caramelization of the sugars. This type of candy is often called milk caramel or cream caramel.

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There are a few problems with this post.  Caramel sauce often contains butter and additional flavorings such as vanilla or fruit puree and the temperatures they are citing are far too high and would result in burning. In addition, calling the clear caramel used for Flan a caramel sauce could technically be considered correct, but is a bit of a stretch.

I noticed the edit button next to the listings, so I went ahead and changed Wikipedia.  The two sections now read this way:

Caramel Sauce[edit]

Caramel sauce is made by mixing caramelized sugar with cream. Depending on the intended application, additional ingredients such as butter, fruit purees, liquors or vanilla are often used. Caramel sauce used in a variety of desserts, though most notably as a topping for ice cream. When it is used for crème caramel or flan, it is known as clear caramel and only contains caramelized sugar and water. Butterscotch sauce is made with dark brown sugar, butter and often a splash of whiskey. Traditionally, butterscotch is a hard candy more in line with a toffee, with the suffix "scotch" meaning "to score."

Caramel candy[edit]

Caramel candy is a soft, dense, chewy candy made by boiling a mixture of milk or cream, sugar(s), glucose, butter, and vanilla (or vanilla flavoring). The sugar and glucose are heated separately to reach 260 °F (130 °C), the cream and butter and then added and cooked to other ingredients are added and the mixture is frequently stirred until it reaches 240 °F (120 °C). Upon completion of cooking, vanilla or any additional flavorings and salt are added. Adding the vanilla or flavorings earlier would result in their burning off at the high temperatures. Adding salt earlier in the process would result in inverting the sugars as they cooked.
Alternately, all ingredients may be cooked together. In this procedure, the mixture is not heated above the firm ball stage (120 °C [250 °F]), so that caramelization of the milk occurs. This temperature is not high enough to caramelize sugar and this type of candy is often called milk caramel or cream caramel.

You can link directly to them here

This was an interesting middle of the night experiment.  I've never changed anything on Wikipedia before, and I foresee my midnight wanderings through cyber-land as being much more interactive from now on.

Stay sweet!

Lisa