Butterscotch is a sweet, golden-brown flavor made by heating butter and brown sugar together until they melt and blend into a smooth, rich mixture. The warm sugar caramelizes, creating a taste that's buttery, slightly toasty, and distinctly different from caramel (which uses white sugar instead of brown).

You'll find butterscotch in candies, puddings, ice cream, and sauces. Traditional butterscotch candies are hard and smooth, unwrapping from crinkly gold wrappers. Butterscotch chips look like chocolate chips but taste creamy and sweet, with that signature buttery warmth. Some people love butterscotch sundaes, where thick butterscotch sauce gets drizzled over vanilla ice cream.

The flavor became popular in the 1800s and remains a classic today, though it's less common than chocolate or vanilla. When you taste butterscotch, you're experiencing what happens when butter and brown sugar transform into something greater than either ingredient alone.