Butterscotch Questions & Answers

Butterscotch is a much disputed substance. People say butterscotch is this and butterscotch is that, but butterscotch is just one thing:

Butterscotch.

god said it, i believe it, and that settles it

Over yonder ho at Simply Recipes on the How To Make Butterscotch piece there are some absolutely fantastic questions being asked. What I love about the hard questions is that they make me think really hard, do a little more research and then try as hard as I can to explain what I know. In an actual kitchen, with you standing by my side, I can explain by saying "Here, look, see that and hey-- take a spoon and taste. See?"

But on this here flat screen, with only these 26 letters below my fingertips... Well let's just say it's a challenge I love to meet.

Two of my favorites so far:

"I fear I must repeat a previously asked question, as I, too, want to know. What is the difference between butterscotch and caramel? Thanks.

Hello LesterK,
Thanks for your question. I fear the explanation will bring us into the sticky realm (pun intended) of the thick and murky nomenclature bog.

Plainly, for the sake of brevity, caramel is made with white sugar and butterscotch is made of brown sugar.

But caramel could also be seen as an umbrella term for a wide range of sugars that caramelize. See above comments-- butterfat can caramelize from a number of animals which give milk, and depending on the region you could be eating Yak caramel or coconut sugar caramel, neither of which fit neatly into these two binary caramels.

I fear your question has spurred in me a number of other questions, and possibly posts, to come. Thank you for your small but grand query! ~ Shuna "

and

"Can you explain the New England habit of adding a dash of vinegar to butterscotch?

Hello DtG,
This is a great question. Because butterscotch began its life in the form of a hard candy there are a few "hold-over" ingredients from that particular recipe that can still sometimes be found in butterscotch sauce recipes and methods.

I don't have a degree in science, so explaining exactly why acidic liquid is added to sugar while sugar cooks and melts and reaches high temperatures is difficult in this format. Sugar loves to re-crystallize while it melts and one way of "insuring" that it will not re-crystallize is to add acidic liquid or an invert sugar (the most popular one now being corn syrup.)

Although one source listed cider vinegar as a preservative in butterscotch hard candy making, I believe the addition of vinegar was first used to facilitate sugar's smooth transition from granulated to liquid, and secondly the presence of acid in sweet cookery is like salt in savoury cooking-- vinegar acts as a flavor enhancer.

It should be noted: butterscotch making as we know it today, whether it be for hard candy or sauce, looks very different than the way it did in 1817 and the decades following. ~ Shuna "

Might you have any questions weighing on your heart about the elusive creature that is butterscotch? Fire away!

Comments

[Aran]

Beautiful photos! I love comparing sugars, the colors, textures... just the word butterscotch really makes my mouth water!