150 shades of brown...
The world leader in caramel color for food and beverages, DDW manufactures more than 150 different caramel color products - including burnt sugars and certified organic products - at plants across the globe including Matsapha, Swaziland; Shanghai, China; Manchester, UK; County Cork, Ireland; Louisville, KY, USA; and Manaus, Brazil.
While it provides all four classes of caramel color, including 'plain'or spirit caramel (class I), specialty spirit caramel/Caustic Sulfite (class II), beer or sauce/ammonia caramel (class III), and soft drink caramel (class IV), the soft drinks caramel colors are the biggest sellers, and can create shades from reddish brown to almost black.
What is caramel color?
Caramel color results from the process of caramelization, or the controlled heating of carbohydrates such as cane sugar, corn syrup or glucose from wheat in the presence of small amounts of food grade acids, alkalis or salts.
It was first used commercially in the brewing industry in products such as porter, stout, dark beers and brandy, while today, soft drinks - primarily colas - are the biggest application area.
However, caramel colors are also used in food products from soy sauce to cookies, sausage casings, soups and gravies, rye bread and meat analogs.
More yellow shades (class I) can also be combined with FD&C Blue #1 to create green shades.