History of caramels

Caramels are a chewy, sweet confection, often square in shape, traditionally composed of sugar, cream, butter and flavorings. Caramels were widely consumed throughout the world. Caramel is a flavor that is easily associated with creating a feeling of warmth and comfort.

Historically the Arabs may have invented the process of making caramels. They invented the process of heating or caramelizing sugar at 320-350° F. Perfecting the process of the decantation of sugar, they obtained a new product, dark brown, sticky and highly fragrant: ‘ball of sweet salt’.

Joinville, who had followed King Louis IX to the Crusade, sniffed its enchanting perfume in passing, and mentions his memoirs ‘very fair canes, from which they obtained that which makes sugar’. The process of making caramels later became popular throughout Europe.

Caramels were expensive until late nineteenth century, when the cost of sugar declined.

Automation began to be used and caramels became one of the America’s most popular low cost confections. In the late nineteenth century, there were three major caramel manufacturers in the United States.

All three were located in Pennsylvania: Breisch-Hine Company of Philadelphia, the P.C Wiest Company of York and Lancaster Caramel Company owned by Milton S. Hershey.

Lancaster Caramel Company had been established in 1894 that marketed a broad range of caramel products across the United States.

Caramel is one of the most versatile and widely used confectionary products. Caramel alone can be a finished product, it can be used as a confectionery center in an enrobed or molded piece, or it can be used as a component in combination with other ingredients such as cookies, pretzels, nougat or marshmallow.
History of caramels