Processed
Hard Caramel
A tier
Hard caramel is sugar cooked to the crack or hard-crack stage, sometimes with almost no dairy, then set into shards, cages, and spun-sugar work, or crushed as a brittle flavour. It shatters. It is the top of a crème brûlée only after you torch it; as an ingredient it arrives already glass. Humidity is the enemy: a beautiful shard becomes sticky in an hour on a wet day. Flavour is more bitter-toasted than a soft dairy caramel. Use it for texture and decoration, or redissolve it into a dark syrup. Do not chew a thick piece if you like your fillings.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
History
Pâtissiers cooked sugar to hard caramel for cages, spun sugar, and décor.
Brittles and hard caramel sweets made the shatter stage a confection in its own right.
Restaurant pastry sections kept hard caramel shards as a mise garnish.
Between-course sugar work and plated desserts still live or die on a dry hard caramel.