Plural of caramel, a brown candy made by heating sugar until it turns golden or dark brown, known for its sweet and slightly bitter taste.
From French 'caramel,' which comes from Portuguese 'caramelo' or Spanish 'caramelo,' possibly derived from Arabic 'qandi' (sugar) through Medieval Latin. The exact origin is debated, but it traveled to Europe via spice trade routes.
Caramel is basically controlled burning—when you heat sugar past its melting point, the sugar molecules break down and recombine into hundreds of new flavor compounds, which is why caramel tastes completely different from plain sugar!
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