The Tap Water Trick For Getting Caramel To Stick To Apples
The leaves are turning, there's a growing chill in the air, and with the holidays around the corner, Americans are starting to cook up copious amounts of festive treats. Embracing the fall season means indulging in the quintessential flavors of pumpkins and apples, which makes perfect sense considering that apple season falls between late July and early November, says Food Network.
Since Halloween is almost here, beyond the iconic apple pie, food lovers may be attempting their own caramel apples just in time for National Caramel Apple Day which falls right on October 31, via National Today. While candy apple popularity grew from a unique window display, the birth of the classic caramel apple was founded out of excess Halloween candy. According to National Today, caramel apples were invented in 1953, when Kraft employee Dan Walker was experimenting with leftover caramel candies when he decided to cover an apple with the melted confection.
If you have a hankering for a caramel apple this fall, you could go out and buy a packaged variety from any grocery store or chocolate shop, but there's nothing like covering fresh seasonal apples with homemade caramel right in your own kitchen. If you decide to go through the extra steps to make your own, achieving adequate caramel coverage is key. Luckily, water is the vital ingredient you need to make perfectly dipped caramel apples.
Cleaning apples helps achieve the ideal caramel-to-apple ratio
According to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, there are approximately 200 varieties of apples grown in the U.S. Before slicing any number of them up as a snack, you may want to wash your apples to remove any residual dirt, residue, and the waxy protective coating added by distributors to preserve freshness, says Food & Wine.
McGill notes that apples have their own natural wax coating, but once picked, that protective coating is washed off by producers during the cleaning process. Therefore, a food-grade wax is added back to apples to increase their shelf-life. While perfectly safe to consume, USApple claims commercial wax has been used on apples since 1924 and has proven effective in maintaining apple quality.
The coating may be keeping your fruit fresh, but that shiny layer may also be preventing you from achieving perfectly coated caramel apples. In order to create an even coating, Cuisine At Home advises home cooks to soak apples for a few minutes in hot water with a dash of vinegar before proceeding with any caramel apple recipe. After scrubbing the apples with a towel to remove any wax, dry, add sticks, and start twirling those apples in a tilted caramel-filled saucepan. Now that you know the trick behind getting that luscious caramel to stick, what type of apples should you use?
Flavor and firmness are essential components of the perfect caramel apple
Before soaking your fruit in hot tap water, you'll want to make sure your chosen apples will hold their shape and not turn to mush after dipping. Among the most popular apple varieties in 2021, Statistica ranked the Gala variety to be America's favorite, but Galas may not be the best for handling multiple topping layers.
Director of Pastry Research and Development at the Institute of Culinary Education, Jürgen David claims the best types of apples to cook with are Golden Delicious and Granny Smith varieties, via Today. Not only do these assortments hold their firmness and quality in the cooking process, but they offer a more subtle tart flavor to counterbalance all the added sweetness of your favorite seasonal desserts.
If you're looking for an apple that maintains an equilibrium of tart undertones and sweetness, Daniel Ward, director of the Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Rutgers University told CNN to opt for a newer variety sure to impart an immeasurable level of crispness such as Honeycrisp or Braeburn. With so many options to choose from, if you can't decide on just one, try a few and pick your favorite. Yet, it's safe to assume that a gooey layer of caramel will make any apple taste like the right one.