Difference between caramel and toffee

[Sarah2412]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me waht the difference is between caramel and toffee?

Thanks!

[heathfield]

At room temperature, caramel is made so as to be soft and chewy, while toffee should remain hard. The difference is brought about by the higher temperatures used in producing toffee.

[Sarah2412]

Thanks Heathfield but what about when you have sticky toffee sauce, shouldn't that be classed as caramel?

[fabemmy]

caramel can either be a runny sauce or a smooth thick sauce. Toffee is hard and chewy

[heathfield]

Yes. Nestl� have recently introduced cans of Carnation Caramel that is used heated up as a pour-over sauce for their Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe. Mind you, while their recipe names it Carnation Caramel, they also call it 'toffee sauce'!
See here.