hi i remembered making caramels in france as a kid,with no corn syrup,they were amazing,any simple recipe like that out there???

I have heard that you can substitute Lyle's Golden Syrup instead of corn syrup...

Alexandra is probably correct. Crystallized sugar dates back to the 5th century CE. Caramel back to 1715–25 in Europe around Spain, France and England . And finally Corn Syrup is an Americanism that dates back to 1900–05. Now if we could only find one of the original caramel recipes for some old world flavor.

http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Easy-Caramel-Sauce-497533?columns=4&position=2%2F80
I also found this

Oh, and add a tiny bit of something acidic, such as vinegar, to stop crystallising. A teaspoon should do it.

I found the recipe on this website below:
http://icecream.about.com/od/Sauces-Toppings/r/Homemade-Caramel-Sauce-Recipe.htm
Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp. butter
Pinch of salt
Preparation:

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan.
Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and place a lid over the saucepan.
Once the water has come to a rolling boil, remove the lid. Do not stir the caramel after this point.
Cook the caramel until it is a golden brown color. If your caramel is cooking unevenly, you can gently swirl the pot to even out the sauce.
Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter. Once it has melted, gradually add in the milk and stir to combine. Be careful, because the milk could boil up quickly when it hits the hot caramel and changing the temperature too quickly could cause the caramel to separate.
Return your caramel sauce to medium heat. Add the salt and stir the mixture until it is well combined. Boil for one minute until the sauce thickens slightly.
Allow your caramel to cool and serve over your favorite frozen desserts or cakes.
Tips:
By covering the sugar and water with a tight-fitting lid, condensation will build up and run down the sides of the pot, cleaning off any sugar that may have collected there. You can also use a wet pastry brush to wash the sides of the pot. If you skip this step, crystals may form on the edges of your caramel, breaking the sauce.
Before the caramel starts to darken, the bubbles will slow down and the mixture will look thicker. This is when you should start keeping an eye on it. Caramel goes from light to dark very quickly, and burned sugar isn’t a good sauce. Once you can smell the sugar cooking, don’t walk away from the kitchen. At this point, I like to cover the pot one more time for one to two minutes, to ensure there won’t be any crystals.
Adding a pinch of salt to your caramel will actually make it sweeter, because the salt counteracts the bitter notes of a deeply caramelized sugar. However, you can always add more to make this a true salted caramel. Add 1/8 of a teaspoon for a gentle flavor, or 1/4 teaspoon for a bold salted caramel sauce flavor.

I have always added a little corn syrup when making caramel to prevent it from seizing up...an old candy making trick that my mother taught me.

Another convert......woohoo!

Chewy caramels usually call for an invert sugar of some sort, be it corn syrup or honey. Both are classified as an "interfering agent," which means that they contain a small amount of acid which maintains them both in their invert, or liquid, state. Added to caramel, they prevent sugar molecules from reverting to a crystalline state, sugar's most stable phase, by causing like molecules to spin about like bumper cars with positive poles attempting to bond with other positive poles, which is not possible. Imagine trying to force the like poles of a magnet to bond. You can get really, really close, but they break away at the last instant. In the absence of honey or corn syrup, you can also add a solution of tartaric acid (cream of tartar) and water in equal amounts. Once the sugar and water, if any, have melted, add the tartaric acid solution in drops literally from an eyedropper. The amount you add will be determined by the amount of caramel you are making. For 1 pint or less add perhaps two or three drops of solution.

what texture were they? these are great: http://food52.com/recipes/20005-spiced-pomegranate-and-orange-caramels

i've made caramels a bunch and never used corn syrup that i can remember... shouldn't be too hard to find a suitable recipe online.

There is a caramel recipe at joyofbaking.com that does not use corn syrup. I usually do not see a lot of caramel recipes that use corn syrup. You could always substitute honey.

There is a caramel recipe at joyofbaking.com that does not use corn syrup. I usually do not see a lot of caramel recipes that use corn syrup. You could always substitute honey.