Caramel Popcorn

Being a newbie at candy making, though there was ample warning in the recipe, I still wasn’t prepared for the reality of how quickly things happen. The instructions have you prepare a mise en place which includes a hot, oiled bowl (in which to mix the hot caramel and popcorn), oiled spoons for mixing (which were actually quite ineffective….my gloved hands were far more efficient) and hot peanuts.

The caramel started to cool and harden as soon as it was removed from the heat. In the few seconds it took to stir in the soda and salt and add the roasted peanuts, it became too firm to pour over the popcorn. I returned the pot to the burner and the residual heat did soften it somewhat but by that time, the mixing bowl had cooled to room temperature, ~18C. The result of all this was popcorn that wasn’t evenly coated with the candy.

I’m not a fan of caramel corn but it was a huge hit with those that are…they particularly liked that the coating was a salted caramel.

Just a final note….weigh your ingredients! In making the recipes from this book, I’ve been comparing volume against weight measurements, using the weight as the final measurement where possible; I haven’t come across any major discrepancies until this recipe, which calls for a substantial amount of kosher salt. Clearly there are huge variations in crystal size among brands….had I gone with the volume listed in this recipe of the brand I use, I would have added twice the weight of salt required and this treat would have been inedible!