Caramel apples or taffy apples (not to be confused with toffee apples) are created by dipping or rolling apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

s-on-a-stick in hot caramel

Caramel

Caramel is a beige to dark-brown confection made by heating any of a variety of sugars. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, and as a topping for ice cream, custard and coffee....

, sometimes then rolling them in nuts

Nut (fruit)

A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...

 or other small savories or confections, and allowing them to cool. Generally, they are called caramel apples when only caramel is applied and taffy apples for when there are further ingredients such as peanuts applied.

Production

Alternatively, for the high-volume production of caramel apples, a sheet of caramel

Caramel

Caramel is a beige to dark-brown confection made by heating any of a variety of sugars. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, and as a topping for ice cream, custard and coffee....

 can be wrapped around the apple, followed by heating of the apple to melt the caramel evenly onto it. This creates a harder caramel that is easier to transport but more difficult to eat. Caramel apple production at home usually involves melting pre-purchased caramel candies for dipping, or making a homemade caramel from ingredients like brown sugar

Brown sugar

Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content, or it is produced by the addition of molasses to refined white...

, butter

Butter

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...

, and vanilla

Vanilla

Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod...

. Homemade caramel generally results in a softer, creamier coating.

In recent years, it has become increasingly popular to decorate caramel apples for holidays like Halloween

Halloween

Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

. Methods used to do this include applying sugar or salt to softened caramel, dipping cooled, hardened apples in white or milk chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

, or painting designs onto finished caramel apples with white chocolate

White chocolate

White chocolate is a confectionery derivative of chocolate. It commonly consists of cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids and salt, and is characterized by a pale yellow or ivory appearance...

 colored with food coloring

Food coloring

Food coloring is a substance, liquid or powder, that is added to food or drink to change its color. Food coloring is used both in commercial food production and in domestic cooking...

.

Classically, the preferred apples for use in caramel apples are tart, crisp apples such as Granny Smith

Granny Smith

The Granny Ramsey Smith green apple is a tip-bearing apple cultivar, which originated in Australia in 1868. It is named after Maria Ann Smith, who propagated the cultivar from a chance seedling. The tree is thought to be a hybrid of Malus sylvestris, the European Wild Apple, with the domestic...

 or Fuji

Fuji (apple)

The Fuji apple is an apple clone developed by growers at the Tohoku Research Station in Fujisaki, Aomori, Japan, in the late 1930s, and brought to market in 1962...

 apples. Softer, grainy-textured apples can also be used, but are not preferred.

Consumption

Caramel apples are usually consumed as treats at autumn festivals such as Halloween

Halloween

Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

 or Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night may refer to:* Bonfire Night, several traditions of bonfire celebrations* Guy Fawkes Night, in Great Britain and some Commonwealth nations * St John's Eve, in Ireland and Scandinavia...

, in the wake of the annual apple harvest.

See also

• Candy apple
  Candy apple
  Candy apples, also known as toffee apples outside of North America, are whole apples covered in a hard sugar candy coating. While the topping varies from place to place, they are almost always served with a stick of sorts in the middle making them easier to eat...
  
   which corresponds to the British "toffee apple"
• Caramel Apple Pops
  Caramel Apple Pops
  Caramel Apple Pops are a brand of lollipops manufactured by Tootsie Roll Industries. The lollipops combine a green apple-flavored hard candy covered with a caramel coating reminiscent of a caramel apple. There are two additional flavors during Halloween: Golden and Red Macintosh.Caramel Apple Pops...
  
  

External links

• Caramel Apple Recipe
• Another Caramel Apple Recipe
• Another Caramel Apple Recipe