caramel hard cider

I've never made a cider before so im just throwing around an idea here, but the other day I had a caramel apple cider from starbucks and it was very good. So I was thinking that might be a cool thing to make cider with, I read that "traditional New England cider" is fermented with brown sugar and rasins to add some more fermentable sugars. Would you be able to add the caramel before fermentation to add some sugar AND taste, or would it be better to just add that before bottleing ala Starbucks style?

The best thing to do would be to let the cider itself start fermenting, rack it into the secondary fermenter, then apply the caramel if you're really going to do that. I'm not sure how well it will work though, since caramel is pretty heavy and hard, I don't know if the yeasties will be able to tackle that.
I don't even know how easily it would dissolve in cider.

OdinOneEye said:

The best thing to do would be to let the cider itself start fermenting, rack it into the secondary fermenter, then apply the caramel if you're really going to do that. I'm not sure how well it will work though, since caramel is pretty heavy and hard, I don't know if the yeasties will be able to tackle that.
I don't even know how easily it would dissolve in cider.

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could always use the liquid carmel flavoring that they use in coffee.... if not, i would hate it up and dissolve it in a small amount of water.

You could also steep a pound of 40-120L crystal (caramel) and add that. It would sweeten the cider a little as well.