2003 Caramel--Raw Materials and Formulations - staging.files.cms ...

MAILLARD REACTION
As just mentioned, the uniqueness of
caramel is due in part to the milk proteins.
The reaction of these proteins with
the reducing sugars in a recipe is called a
Maillard reaction. This reaction produces
brown nitrogenous polymers or
melanoidins, which contribute to the flavor,
color and texture. The reaction itself
goes through too many steps to cover here
so just remember the basics:
• It is a reaction between amino acids and
reducing sugars.
• It is affected by the type and levels of
amino acids and reducing sugars.
• It is affected by temperature (slow below
100°F, fast above 200°F).
• It is affected by time, the thermal profile
at each stage of the process.
• It is affected by pH, faster at higher pH.
• It is affected by moisture level throughout
the process.
A TWO-PHASE CONFECTION
Caramel is often a two-phase confection,
continuous and dispersed.To visualize this,
imagine wet sand.The sand is the dispersed
phase, the water the continuous phase.
With the sand, using water gives you a texture
for forming your desired shapes. In
our caramel, the sand is the crystallized
sugars and the water is the syrup.As in the
wet sand, the ratio of dispersed and continuous
phase will affect the texture, from
something you can pour, to something you
can shape, to something that is dry and
crumbly.
The syrup or continuous phase is made
up of the water and all ingredients that can
remain dissolved in the water.What cannot
stay in solution will crystallize or precipitate
out to form the dispersed phase. This
syrup affects texture and controls shelf life.
The water level has the greatest influence
in controlling texture, primarily hardness.
Caramel — Raw Materials and Formulations
The dissolved-sugars ratio controls sticki- The level of water
ness, chewiness and toughness. The level and types of sugars
of water and types of sugars together will together will
control water activity, determining shelf control water
life and what kind of protection the prod- activity,
uct will need, from moisture pick-up or determining shelf
loss, to cold flow. The proteins affect the life and what kind
body or elasticity. This continuous phase of protection the
can be like a lubricant that allows the dis- product will need.
persed particles to flow or even pour as in
a syrup, or it can be like a binder or glue to
hold them in a given shape to the extent of
a hard candy.The key is knowing what you
want that continuous phase to do for your
particular product, how you want it to
behave and its effect on texture, flavor and
shelf life.
The dispersed phase is not only made
up of the sugars that crystallize out, but
also oil, fat, precipitates and any inclusions
such as nutmeats. What makes up the dispersed
particles will affect texture differently.Their
overall quantity or ratio of dispersed
to continuous will affect how long
or short the texture will be (go back to the
wet sand and compare the pourable to the
crumbly). The particle size affects surface
area, affecting the amount of syrup that is
needed just to coat the particles, like comparing
wet sand to wet clay and similarly
the possible range of textures of your confection.Their
hardness also has an effect on
texture. Is it a hard sugar crystal or a
deformable oil globule? Even particulate
shape has its effect.
The characteristics of your finished product
will then be the result of the properties
of each phase and how both phases
complement each other.
Once you figure all this out, you then
have to know what characteristics you
need at each phase of your process. Is it a
small kettle batch cook of a few pounds or
a large-scale continuous process of more ➤
57 th PMCA Production Conference, 2003 23