Making of Caramel Syrup

X'mas is fast approaching. I guess you would have long back started off the preparation by soaking the dry fruits for the Fruit cake and also fermenting the grapes for the awesome homemade grape wine, to pair with the cake. If you have not done it yet, then I am sorry I really can't help you make a homemade grape wine because it would need those number of days to age, to achieve a perfect grape wine. But if you have not soaked up the fruits yet, then may be I could be of some help. The Fruit cake recipe that wouldn't require your fruits to be soaked for days is here. 

Now this post is about making your caramel that goes into the fruit cake that I was talking about. You could make the caramel syrup in bulk if you make too many number of cakes at home for X'mas. So that with every batch of cake that you make, you don't have to go through the overhead of making this caramel syrup every time. If stored in a dry and air tight bottle in the refrigerator, they stay good for months. So every time you have to make a Fruit cake or Pudding, you just pull it out of the refrigerator and use it. 

On a separate note, my Meen Pollichathu recipe grabbed a second prize in the 'Regional Recipes of India contest' hosted by Betterbutter ! I am shocked for myself (Its unusual that I turn lucky at contests), at the same time Not at all surprised for the recipe which got selected. This Meen Pollichathu recipe is such a perfect one. It's our favorite as well as one among the most popular recipes on the blog. You should try it too, if not already. May be include it in your Christmas/New year special menu. What say ? 

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup sugar
2. 1/4 cup of warm water

Method

• In a thick bottom pan, take the sugar.
• Continue stirring it while heating it. Sugar would start melting and would turn brown in colour. Let it turn dark brown in colour.
• Remove it from fire and pour the warm water slowly. 
• Place it on fire, again and bring it to a boil, while stirring. Let it cook for another 2 minutes.
• Cool it and store it in an air tight container in the fridge and use it when needed for pudding, fruit cake etc.

Tips

1. Use a long handle spoon, to stir the sugar/caramel, as there are chances of burns caused while the sugar is boiling.
2. While pouring in the water to the sugar, be careful as the water might splash and cause burns.
3. The longer you heat it, the darker it gets. In the picture, the syrup doesn't look that dark as it originally was, because of the background light. But it looked pretty, doesn't it :)
4. The consistency of the caramel should be not too thin nor too thick. It should have a consistency similar to honey. If you feel the caramel has turned out thick, add few tbsp of water and put it on fire again and bring it to a boil. If you feel its too thin then again, put it on fire and bring it to a boil to get the right consistency. As the caramel cools down, it would thicken.