Dulce de Leche
Dulce de Leche is fairly simple to make. To make 1 cup of dulce de leche, 1 quart of whole milk, 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 split vanilla bean is mixed together and heated over medium heat until the sugars is dissolved. 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda is then added to prevent coagulation of the milk proteins.
The mixture is heated on low heat for an hour and a half. After about an hour the mixture should visibly start to gain a brown coloration.
The first picture shows the mixture before any browning/caramalization has occurred. The mixture is at 145°F:
Over time the mixture became hotter (about 160°F):
After an hour and a half, the mixture is noticeably brown and is sitting at a temperature of about 170°F:
Shortly after this point, some of the dulce de leche was removed to be the first batch.
The heat was lowered afterwards to prevent burning and boiling of the remaining dulce de leche.
The mixture gained a very thick and sticky consistency at about 2 hours. It was sitting at around 140°F for most of the time past the first hour and forty minutes.
It was removed a little after two hours and put through a strainer into a bowl:
Final outcome:
lighter (taken off sooner):
Darker: 
Reflection video:
Questions:
1. The darker sauce is less sweet because more of the fructose and glucose that was in the mixture has been converted into aroma molecules like furan and diacetyl than in the lighter mixture. Because it has lower concentration of these sweet molecules and a higher concentration of these aroma molecules, those flavors are more dominant and the overall dulce de leche is less sweet.
2. At around 160°F was the first particularly noticeable browning reaction. Beyond there everything seemed to be pretty consistently changing color. Once the first batch of dulce de leche was removed, the mixture changed color more rapidly.
The mixture is heated on low heat for an hour and a half. After about an hour the mixture should visibly start to gain a brown coloration.
The first picture shows the mixture before any browning/caramalization has occurred. The mixture is at 145°F:
Over time the mixture became hotter (about 160°F):
After an hour and a half, the mixture is noticeably brown and is sitting at a temperature of about 170°F:
Shortly after this point, some of the dulce de leche was removed to be the first batch.
The heat was lowered afterwards to prevent burning and boiling of the remaining dulce de leche.
The mixture gained a very thick and sticky consistency at about 2 hours. It was sitting at around 140°F for most of the time past the first hour and forty minutes.
It was removed a little after two hours and put through a strainer into a bowl:
Final outcome:
lighter (taken off sooner):
Darker: 
Reflection video:
Questions:
1. The darker sauce is less sweet because more of the fructose and glucose that was in the mixture has been converted into aroma molecules like furan and diacetyl than in the lighter mixture. Because it has lower concentration of these sweet molecules and a higher concentration of these aroma molecules, those flavors are more dominant and the overall dulce de leche is less sweet.
2. At around 160°F was the first particularly noticeable browning reaction. Beyond there everything seemed to be pretty consistently changing color. Once the first batch of dulce de leche was removed, the mixture changed color more rapidly.
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