Is there a technique to making Caramel in a Microwave oven?

Question

I've made it on the stove top: sugar, corn syrup ect..but wanted to try it in the microwave - any tips on cooking times, techniques?

Answer 1

Microwave candy recipes are very fast and easy. They tend to be only a little different in flavor than the stove top versions in my experience. There seems to be a little less depth of flavor.

The recipes usually call for short periods of microwaving and frequent stirring. As far as the cooking times- I have to follow the recipe as I have no way of measuring the temperature in the microwave.

I personally have had great success with peanut brittle recipes (which get hotter than caramel):

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/microwave-peanut-brittle-2/Detail.aspx

A cursory google search found several recipes for caramel but I have not tried them personally.

Answer 2

I personally wouldn't try it. Caramelizing is a delicate process and it is very easy to burn the sugar. It also gets up to a very high temperature (typical table sugar is 160° C / 320° F) and several dishes that might be labeled "microwave-safe" will not withstand that temperature. You would actually need an oven-safe vessel for this process.

Last but not least, it will harden almost instantly as soon as you remove it from the microwave because there's no continuous heat source. By the time you get your oven mitts off, it'll be too late to do anything useful with it.

Stick to the stove top.

Answer 3

you cannot control the temperature in microwave. use stove top.