I made candied pecans for an ice cream yesterday - In a frying pan, I stirred 1 tbsp of butter and 1/4 brown sugar until the sugar mostly dissolved, then added chopped pecans and kept stirring 2-3 min until the pecans were coated well. Poured the resulting candied nut “sheet” onto a piece of foil and chopped it up after cooling.

The result was great - it was a nice crunchy addition to the ice cream. But my partner asked a question that has stumped me: We both hate storebought caramel-filled candies because they’re so unpleasant to eat when they stick to your teeth. How come the candied nuts I made turned out nice and crunchy? Not just the nuts themselves but also the candy “sheet” that they were in. Is it because what I made isn’t caramel but is something else? Something about the ingredients of storebought caramel?

Thanks!