Editing Caramel (section)

==Salting==
As early as the [[19th century]], baked products with caramelized sugar and salted dough appeared in certain regional cuisines, notably the [[kouign-amann]] in the [[Brittany]] region of [[France]] where this pairing is strongly apparent. During the early [[20th century]] and following [[World War Two]], this pairing was expanded into other types of pastries and cakes.<ref name="b131">{{cite book | last=Hardy | first=Anne | title=Where to eat in Canada | publisher=Oberon Press | publication-place=Ottawa | year=1971 | issn=0315-3088 | oclc=1151791775}}</ref> 

Salted caramel sweets with milk or butter were sold in Brittany as early as 1946, reviving recipes already used before World War Two. The [[Quiberon]] {{ill|Niniche (sweet)|fr|Niniche|lt=niniche}}<ref name="d999">{{cite web | title=Envie d’une confiserie traditionnelle ? La niniche de Quiberon, une aventure familiale depuis 70 ans | website=Ouest-France.fr | date=2017-07-12 | url=https://www.ouest-france.fr/bretagne/auray-56400/la-niniche-de-quiberon-une-aventure-familiale-depuis-70-ans-5134126 | language=fr | access-date=2025-04-25 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20250425210458/https://www.ouest-france.fr/bretagne/auray-56400/la-niniche-de-quiberon-une-aventure-familiale-depuis-70-ans-5134126 | archive-date=2025-04-25}}</ref> and {{ill|Salidou|fr|Salidou|italic=yes}} [[Spread (food)|spread]] are examples of such products which gained popularity in the late 1940s and 1950s in Brittany. Recipes almost always contained milk or butter which made these products [[perishable]] and limited their commercialization.

In 1977, French pastry chef {{ill|Henri Le Roux|fr|Henri Le Roux}} developed a significantly more stable salted caramel sweet in [[Quiberon]], Brittany, in the form of a salted butter caramel with crushed nuts (''caramel au beurre salé''), using Breton ''demi-sel'' butter.<ref>Brian Edwards, [https://www.mirror.co.uk/usvsth3m/salted-caramel---ubiquitous-flavour-5223158 "Salted Caramel—that ubiquitous flavour which is actually only as old as Star Wars"], ''[[Daily Mirror]]'',Feb 25, 2015 <!-- Source appears erroneous in stating this invention, see for example 'Where to eat in Canada' pub. Oberon Press ed. 1971 which mentions "pan-fried foie gras with salted caramel and dried fruit" on page 93 https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Where_to_Eat_in_Canada/1kAsAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22salted+caramel%22&dq=%22salted+caramel%22&printsec=frontcover --> </ref> It was named the "Best confectionery in France" (''{{Lang|fr|Meilleur Bonbon de France}}'') at the Paris ''{{Lang|fr|Salon International de la Confiserie}}'' in 1980. Le Roux registered the trademark "CBS" (caramel au beurre salé) the year after.<ref>"Henri Le Roux: L'histoire d'un Maître Chocolatier-Caramélier", [https://www.chocolatleroux.com/content/8-henri-le-roux-chocolatier-et-caramelier web site of Maison Le Roux] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419215448/https://www.chocolatleroux.com/content/8-henri-le-roux-chocolatier-et-caramelier |date=2021-04-19 }}</ref>

Salted caramel sweets became a huge hit throughout France and other French-speaking European countries (notably Belgium and Switzerland which already had a tradition for fine chocolate and confectionery) and for years French, Belgian and Swiss children added it to their {{Lang|fr|[[goûter]]}}, a meal eaten around 4&nbsp;pm in order to restore their energy after school. {{Lang|fr|Goûter}} usually consists of bread with jam or caramel spread, croissants or pain au chocolat, fruit and hot chocolate.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

In the late 1990s, Parisian pastry chef Pierre Hermé introduced his salted butter and caramel [[macaron]]s and, by 2000, high-end chefs started adding a bit of salt to caramel and chocolate dishes. In 2008 it entered the mass market, when [[Häagen-Dazs]] and [[Starbucks]] started selling it.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Severson |first=Kim |date=December 30, 2008 |title=How Caramel Developed a Taste for Salt |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/dining/31cara.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

Originally used in desserts, the confection has seen wide use elsewhere, including in [[hot chocolate]] and spirits such as [[vodka]]. Its popularity may come from its effects on the [[reward system]]s of the human brain, resulting in "hedonic escalation".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Young |first=Sarah |date=27 November 2017 |title=Why you can't stop eating salted caramel, according to science |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/salted-caramel-not-stop-eating-science-university-florida-hedonic-sugar-fat-a8078296.html |access-date=1 March 2018 |website=[[The Independent]]}}</ref>