Caramel in food

Historically, the Arabs may have invented the process of making caramels, but caramels were widely consumed throughout the world.

The major food groups containing caramel are sauces and condiments, soft and carbonated drinks, pies and pastries, desserts, soup and cakes.

There are four classes of caramel colors used as food additives and they are defined by the reactant added to the carbohydrate during production.
*Plain caramel – used in spirit
*Caustic caramel – used in spirit
*Ammonia caramel - Beer
*Sulfite ammonia caramel – soft drinks

Caramel is prepared from the following food-grade carbohydrate: dextrose, invert sugar, lactose, malt syrup, molasses, starch hydrolysates, and fraction thereof and sucrose.

Caramelization is done in the industry with different catalysts to produce either flavor or color. For flavor purposes, sucrose is caramelized in concentrated syrup.

The caramel aroma is mainly due to a group of cyclic alkylenolones, dihydrofuranones, and pyrones.

During food processing, it is important to control caramelization reaction while still retaining the pleasant quality of caramel. Otherwise it can lead to the production of unpleasant, burned and butter products.
Caramel in food