Ode to Sugar and Caramel Sauce

As we've been refining our caramel recipe, it occurs to me again that sugar is amazing. Especially as Irish sugar production is dwindling, it seems like a little paean of praise is in order.

You have this white, hard substance that dissolves into a clear liquid, sweetens everything it touches, turns into candy when cooked to a certain temperature, and it can be spun, pulled, and hardened. In all its various forms, it provides happiness to people every day. There might be health concerns and visits to the dentist, but we still have dessert at the end of a meal because it makes us feel good, and that's not a bad thing at all.

The crusaders brought the first sugar back to Europe (and it got to the Mid-East from Polynesia via India, Persia, etc.) along with numerous enlightening discoveries learned from the Arabs. I am happy that they did, and surprised and grateful that they didn't eat it all on the long trip back home. Otherwise, we'd be working with honey, and you can't make caramel sauce with honey!

Here's a recipe if you want to try it. Good luck. It's not the easiest thing to make. Please take care, because melted sugar is dangerously hot!

Murphys Caramel Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:
200g Sugar
100ml Water
250ml of Milk
100ml of Cream

1. Put the sugar in a large saucepan and evenly pour water over it.
2. Place over medium heat without stirring, until the sugar solution turns a deep amber colour, and most of water has evaporated.
3. Take off the heat and add the milk.
4. Immediately add the cream and stir vigorously. (If you don't add it immediately, the sauce will go lumpy).
5. It may be necessary to reheat in order to fully dissolve the ingredients.

Note: If you have problems cooking the sugar evenly and it starts to brown only at the edges, you can use a whisk to stir it, but you might have to pass the finished sauce through a sieve as it tends to make the sugar clump...

By the way, I know that not everyone can eat sugar, and regarding diabetics, I'm still on the frustrating search for a natural way to make diabetic ice cream. If anybody has any ideas...

Finally, thanks to Conor O'Neill for providing this link regarding chocolate and health. It helps with my chocolate is not a sin argument!

Technorati tags: caramel, sugar, recipe, sauce, ice cream, Irish
File as: Recipe1