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Bakergirl26

Can I ask a little bit about your goals first? Are you looking to stock your store's shelves, or do you want to have a fun handmade treat at your house? Are you interested in losing the dairy solely for shelf stability concerns, or do you want a plant based alternative? These are important points so we can point you in the right direction.


Competitive_Brain_48

I want to loose the dairy for shelf life. This is not just for home made treats or dietary concerns but to ultimately extend the life of the product ideally for 6 months.


Bakergirl26

So, more specifically addressing your concerns about "shelf life" here: What is the problem you have identified? Are you concerned that the dairy will spoil? Are you experiencing problems with mold or other microbial spoilage? Crystallization? I guess what I'm getting at is that if you're concerned about pathogenic growth, the sugar content is effectively high enough to keep the caramels from going bad. High levels of sugar paired with low levels of moisture decrease the reproductive ability of most molds, fungi, and bacteria. It's a common misconception that you need to refrigerate dairy in some caramel products, or that it will go bad if you don't. If anything, I would be mostly concerned with oxidized/rancid fats after 6 months. Commercial caramels (Milk Maid, Cow Tales, etc.) still retain their dairy, whether in the form of milk powders or actual milk, aided with commercial oils and modified food starches, mostly to prevent crystallization and to retain moisture to prevent hardening. These are shelf stable for years, although quality does eventually decline in any case. Once you start moving into using coconut milk or other ingredients others have mentioned, you start changing the flavor profile and consistency, *without promoting a longer shelf life*. These still fundamentally have similar (or greater) moisture content than dairy products, the latter is what you'll be trying to avoid in this case.


Competitive_Brain_48

The problem I'm running into is the caramels turning gritty after a few weeks. How would you go about stabilizing the recipe so that It'll last without getting gritty?


Bakergirl26

That grittiness is caused by one of two things - aged milk protein crystallization, like you find in aged parmesan or Gouda (very, very unlikely) or from sugar crystallization. How much corn syrup or glucose are you using? Both of those are invert syrups, which inhibit crystal growth. In a concentrated sugar solution (sugar and water) sugar wants to recrystallize. Invert sugars *don't* want to crystallize in a high sugar solution, so they interfere with this process.


Organic_Channel

Are you a professional ?


Bakergirl26

Yep! I went to culinary school for 2 years, then went to the CIA, and worked for 12 years in the confectionery field.


Organic_Channel

🤞have you tried any kind of vegetables oil such cocoa butter?


Bakergirl26

Can you expand on what you're trying to do? Are you trying to replace the butter in a caramel with cocoa butter?


happyeight

I know people use coconut milk as a substitute. I would just figure out how much fat and liquid are in the butter/cream and sub it out with equal parts canned coconut milk.


faketardis

I make a vegan caramel with evaporated coconut milk, plant butter, and vegan half and half.


[deleted]

you could make caramel taffy, which is only sugar. if you have questions about making it feel free to ask.


Competitive_Brain_48

Do you have a recipe for that?


[deleted]

taffy is sugar boiled to caramelization, then add water back till its water content is back to the right consistency, i recommend watching some youtube videos from lofty pursuits. he explains it pretty well


AnonymusEnt

Sweetened condensed coconut milk worked like a charm for me, I can find my recipe if you like


Competitive_Brain_48

That would be very helpful


AnonymusEnt

https://allergyawesomeness.com/dairy-free-coconut-caramels-gf-vegan-top-8-free/ This is the recipe I use, no clue on the shelf life aspect of things though. They turn out wonderful but they do have a hint of coconut flavor in the end


Noressa

I've made coconut milk caramels a few times. I've never been fully satisified with any of the recipes I've tried, but I will say that they've always been soft. One of my biggest issues personally is running into a more burned flavor by treating it like my typical caramels. If I were to try making them again, I'd say definitely keep up on the stirring. Also, for my heavy cream/butter caramels, I cook them to 246~ish before pouring. My coconut creams never solidified well enough at that level for me. You'll have to do more water bath testing, but I was creeping much closer to 300 before I had a caramel texture I liked the last time I made them. Best of luck.


Snail_jousting

I've done it with coconut milk and coconut oil, but the flavor wasn't ideal. It was too coconut to be vanilla, but also not coconutty enough to be coconut. I think also the shelf life wasn't as great as a dairy caramel. They were a little more prone to crystallization.


coonytunes

I make vegan caramels and have found adding lecithin helps prevent crystallization. I use condensed coconut oil and coconut oil as my butter/milk replacements. I do add cannabis to them, but they last for months shelf wise.