Caramel
A golden-brown colour and sweet made by heating sugar until it browns
No single value: Caramel is a material, and its colour varies. The background shows its family, brown.
Caramel is both a colour and a sweet made by heating sugar until it turns golden-brown and develops a distinct flavour. The word comes from French and Spanish roots, and caramel is widely used in desserts, candies, and as a colouring in drinks.
- Caramel is made by heating sugar to high temperatures.
- The name comes from French and Spanish words for sugar treats.
- Salted caramel became popular in Brittany, France in the 20th century.
- Caramel colouring is used in drinks like cola.
- Caramel can be a soft candy, a sauce, or a brittle sweet.
What colour is Caramel?
Caramel is a warm brown shade that comes from heating sugar until it changes colour and flavour. The process, called caramelization, gives caramel its signature golden to deep brown look and a taste that is both sweet and slightly bitter. This colour appears in both the sweets themselves and in caramel colouring, which is a concentrated liquid used to tint foods and drinks.
Where does Caramel come from?
The name 'caramel' comes from French and Spanish, with possible roots in Portuguese and Latin words for sugar cane or reed. The process of making caramel by heating sugar has been known for centuries, but the English word appeared in the 18th century. Caramel has become a staple in French and European confectionery, especially in regions like Brittany.
How is Caramel made?
To make caramel, sugar is slowly heated to about 170°C. As it heats, the sugar molecules break apart and form new compounds, giving caramel its colour and taste. For caramel candies, milk, cream, butter, and sometimes vanilla are added to the cooked sugar. Caramel colouring is made by heating sugar until almost all water is removed, resulting in a dark, concentrated liquid.
Where Caramel is used
Caramel is found in many desserts and sweets, including brittles, pralines, nougats, flan, crème brûlée, and caramel apples. It is also used as a filling for chocolates and bars, and as a colouring agent in drinks like cola. In France and neighbouring countries, caramel is a common treat for children and adults alike, especially in pastries and spreads.
Brown around the world
What the brown family means from country to country.
Brown is the colour of Nazism in German political speech, after the brown shirts of the party's stormtroopers. To call a view "brown" is to call it far right.
Politics and protestDanger and warningShameSource: SturmabteilungMasi is bark cloth beaten from paper mulberry and printed in brown and black. It is worn at weddings and funerals and given in ceremonial exchanges.
Sacred and holyWeddings and marriageSource: Tapa clothKuntunkuni is a dark brown mourning cloth of the Asante, dyed with tree bark. Adinkra cloth, stamped with symbols, was first made on such dark grounds for funerals.
Mourning and deathSadnessSource: Adinkra symbolsThe batik of the Javanese courts at Yogyakarta and Surakarta is dyed in soga brown with indigo and cream. Some court patterns were once reserved for the royal family.
Royalty and powerPrideSource: BatikBogolanfini, or mud cloth, is cotton painted with fermented river mud in browns, black and white. Hunters wear it for protection, and women after childbirth.
Protection and healingSacred and holySource: BògòlanfiniShades and relatives of Caramel
Caramel comes in several forms, from soft, chewy candies to hard brittles and sauces. Milk caramel and cream caramel are softer versions made with dairy. Caramel is sometimes confused with toffee and butterscotch, but those use different sugars or cooking methods and have distinct flavours and textures.
Questions people ask about Caramel
What colour is caramel?
Caramel is a golden to deep brown colour that comes from heating sugar until it browns.
Where does the name 'caramel' come from?
The word 'caramel' comes from French and Spanish, with roots in words for sugar cane or sweet treats.
How is caramel made?
Caramel is made by slowly heating sugar to around 170°C, causing it to change colour and develop a rich, sweet flavour.
Is caramel the same as toffee or butterscotch?
No, toffee and butterscotch use different sugars or methods. Caramel uses white sugar and is cooked differently.
What foods use caramel?
Caramel is used in candies, desserts like crème brûlée and flan, as a filling in chocolates, and as a colouring in drinks.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Caramel", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. The swatch is an approximation: named colours are not fixed standards, and every screen shows them a little differently. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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