DESCRIPTION

Caramel usually occurs as a dark brown to black liquid or solid. It is a complex mixture of compounds, some of which are in the form of colloidal aggregates. Caramel is manufactured by heating carbohydrates, either alone or in the presence of food-grade acids, alkalis, and/or salts. Caramel is produced from commercially available food-grade nutritive sweeteners consisting of fructose, dextrose (glucose), invert sugar, sucrose, malt syrup, molasses, and starch hydrolysates and fractions thereof. The acids that may be used are food-grade sulfuric, sulfurous, phosphoric, acetic, and citric acids; the alkalis are ammonium, sodium, potassium, and calcium hydroxides; and the salts are ammonium, sodium, and potassium carbonate, bicarbonate, phosphate (including mono- and dibasic), sulfate, and bisulfite. Food-grade antifoaming agents, such as polyglycerol esters of fatty acids, may be used as processing aids during manufacture. Caramel is soluble in water.