Turn Olive Oil Into Caramel Topping With One Extra Ingredient

Fall is right around the corner, which means it is time to start incorporating one of the most versatile autumnal flavors into your recipe rotation. No, we are not talking about pumpkins. We are talking about caramel. From caramel apples to a warm, salted caramel latte, the popular ingredient is soon to be everywhere.

It is well known that caramel can easily be purchased from a grocery store as a syrup, dip, or topping, or it can be made from scratch through a tricky process that requires a stove and your undivided attention. But what about making it at home with only two ingredients? Food influencer @fitgreenmind, who has nearly four million followers on Instagram, makes caramel by combining cold maple syrup and olive oil. That's it! The result is a simple, vegan take on the popular topping, which can be used on desserts like ice cream or cheesecake, or as an ingredient to sweeten salad dressings or marinades.

The recipe to make the olive oil caramel is as easy as it sounds. First, add equal parts cold maple syrup and high-quality olive oil to a bowl. Make sure the maple syrup is 100% pure and not table syrup, which has added ingredients. Next, add a pinch of salt to the bowl and mix with a spoon. This step may take a few minutes as the ingredients need to be fully incorporated through a process called emulsification. When something is emulsified, multiple liquids that don't naturally merge come together to create an even mixture, regardless of the shape and toughness of their respective molecules. After this step, you will be left with a smooth caramel topping — "silky" as the creator described it.

The olive oil can be replaced by other nutritional oils, like avocado oil and coconut oil, but it is recommended to avoid highly processed oils like canola oil. You can use honey or other natural liquid sweeteners like agave and date syrup to replace the maple syrup in the recipe, although the flavor will vary. To bring out the best taste in the simple sauce, you can enhance the sweetness with flaky sea salt rather than table salt.

Per the creator, the olive oil caramel lasts up to seven days in the refrigerator but it should be mixed again after storing as the oil and syrup will separate. However, since the recipe is so easy, you can just make enough for a single serving every time you need it.