Caramelizing Versus Sweating Onions - CHOW Tip

Michael Symon, chef, author, and Iron Chef, says that the only real difference between sweating onions and caramelizing them is the cooking time. Don't add sugar!

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TRANSCRIPT
There's always a little bit of confusion between sweating verse caramelizing. For an onion for example, when you sweat you want to go over a medium heat, little bit of fat in the pan. Salt right in the beginning so you get maximum flavor and cook it until a translucent and very aromatic, then the vegetable is sweat. With caramelizing the temperature doesn't change but the cooking time does. You're going to go a little bit longer, until the vegetable starts to become a nice golden brown. There's no need to add sugar to get that sweet flavor. With the slow cooking process, all those great natural sugars are going to come out on their own.