COCOA & CHOCOLATE PROCESSING “Today our chocolate producing customers are calling for
more flexibility in their machines and of course the biggest element of this is a need for rapid changeovers between batches. Hygienically-designed equipment will always be quicker to cleandown and so can offer huge benefits for those looking for rapid turnarounds between batches. Hygienic design equals easy cleaning which equals faster turnarounds,” says Raf. He went on to highlight that consumer demand for new
and more interesting chocolate, and of course the demand for healthier and ‘free from’ offerings, has fuelled the need for chocolatiers to offer ever-wider product ranges which is really driving the need for faster turnarounds between batches – all the time that equipment is not producing it is costing the business money! “We have seen how consumer trends have affected batch
sizes,” says Raf. “It started with the trend towards single origin chocolate, which required a visual hygienic clean between batches, but this is really just the tip of the iceberg when you consider that there is also a growing demand for ‘free from’ products too, which requires a much more stringent, thorough clean to be undertaken between batches if the same line is going to be used for both traditional and ‘free from’ products – so cleanability today is an even more important consideration than it may have been in the past.” Raf points out that the demand for a wider variety of chocolate products has offered opportunities for new companies to enter into the specialty chocolate market sector.
“The volumes for sugar-free, vegan, plant-based and ‘free from’ products are still less than for traditional chocolate – and we are also seeing this as driving demand for smaller, flexible automated machines,” he says. Another emerging trend that has been identified by Hacos
is the need for equipment that is able to handle an ever- wider variety of inclusions in chocolate. “This demands more flexible equipment solutions and some creativity,” says Raf. “For example, we have been working with one customer who wants to add marshmallows. However, marshmallow inclusions can vary widely – depending on the sugar content and whether it is a vegan product or not – marshmallow will behave very differently, depending on its ingredients so we need to really understand all the aspects of an application before suggesting the best solution. Of course, many of our customers want their products to stand out from the crowd and want to create something special and different, so it is vital that we work collaboratively to find the right combination of solutions to configure a solution to meet each customer’s very particular requirements.” To wrap up, it would appear that the conservative chocolate processing sector – all the way from bean to bar – is being affected in some way by consumer demands for more variety from their chocolate products. Batch sizes are shrinking but volumes are not, so chocolate producers need to be looking for equipment that offers ever faster changeover times between batches in order to avoid unnecessary equipment downtimes.
New processing method produces fruitier, more ‘flowery’ dark chocolate
Researchers reporting in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have identified that an alternative processing step called ‘moist incubation’ results in a fruitier dark chocolate than the conventional fermentation process. After harvesting,
cocoa beans
are traditionally covered in banana leaves and left for a few days to ferment. During this time microbes in the environment degrade the pulp surrounding the beans, heating and acidifying them. This causes biochemical changes in the beans that reduce bitterness and astringency, while developing the flavours and aromas associated with chocolate. Scientists have developed an alternative, non-microbial approach called moist incubation, in which dried, unfermented cocoa nibs are rehydrated in an acidic solution, heated for 72 hours and then re- dried. The method, which is says to be faster and more easily controlled than fermentation, produced similar
aromas in beans as fermentation, with some differences. The researchers made chocolate
bars using moist incubated or fermented dried cocoa beans, as well as unfermented beans as a control. Sensory panellists say the moist incubated sample had higher intensities of fruity, flowery, malty
and caramel-like aromas, whereas the fermented one had higher roasty aroma notes, and the bar made from unfermented beans had a primarily green aroma. The panellists rated the moist incubated sample as the sweetest-tasting,
unfermented chocolate was the most bitter and astringent.
KennedysConfection.com Kennedy’s Confection July 2022 29
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