ProSweets Cologne presents innovative technology for the chocolate industry
The chocolate market comes up with new recipes and creations almost on a daily basis. With highly-flexible production lines, which will be on display from January 31 to February 3 at ProSweets Cologne, Germany, there are hardly any limits to the variety of shapes and flavors anymore.
At the international supplier trade fair for the sweets and snacks industry, over 300 exhibitors will be presenting solutions that allow economic and high-quality production – including modular lines for the production of filled chocolate and elaborate chocolates.
In conjunction with ISM, the international fair for sweets and snacks, which is being held simultaneously, ProSweets Cologne covers the entire value chain in the production of sweets and snacks – an internationally unique constellation.
Trend towards complete systems
The diversity at the sweets counter demands that the chocolate industry is equipped with efficient systems.
On the one hand as many work steps as possible should ideally be carried out by one and the same production machine. On the other hand, a high degree of flexibility is demanded so that small and medium-sized batches can be produced economically. Whereas dark chocolate doesn’t face the technology providers with big problems, the trend towards fillings requires more complex machinery. The ProSweets Cologne exhibitors’ answer here is modular production lines for filled and unfilled products. The machines presented in Cologne offer a variety of options, starting from different pouring and coating methods, through to different filling, inserting and molding alternatives. For example, thanks to an additional module, a production machine for chocolate bars can be converted into a machine for producing hollow figures in just a few easy steps.
Precise molding of hollow figures
The shape is what makes the most elegant chocolate specialty perfect. Traditionally, the liquid chocolate is poured into an existing mould comprising of two half shells and is molded using a multi-axle casting process while cooling the interior walls. A critical point that arises during the casting process of hollow figures is the danger of different shell thicknesses.
Winkler and Dünnebier opens up new avenues for the manufacturers of Santas, Easter bunnies and bears with the “Flash Shell Cooling” methods. A cryogenic stamp is briefly immersed in the liquid chocolate, whereby a thin layer freezes on the stamp and is molded. The machine precisely moulds complicated half shells in a few seconds and enables a uniform shell thickness of under two millimeters for the entire surface of the figure. All chunky ingredients such as nuts can be processed, if they are homogeneously mixed with the chocolate before being stamped.
Chocotech, Bühler and Knobel will be presenting “Frozen Shell”, “Cool Core” and “Cold Press” in Cologne – solutions which mould the hollow figure for filled chocolates based on the cold stamping principle. A multiple stamping head developed by Bühler allows flexibility in the moulding process.
Filled with a “shot”
Low viscosity fillings cannot be dosed together with the chocolate mass using the one-shot method. In a joint research project together with Winkler & Dünnebier and the sugar manufacturer Pfeiffer & Langen, the Institute for Food and Bioprocess Engineering of the DresdenTechnicalUniversity has registered a patent for a method that enables the production of liqueur chocolates using the one-shot method. The idea behind this: Starch is added to the low viscosity mass, in this case the liqueur, 24 hours before use to increase the viscosity. Just before the pouring process a natural enzyme is added as a liquefier, which breaks down the starch in the course of a few days. Before the chocolate reaches the consumer, the filling is completely fluid again and the taste experience is guaranteed.
Whether to improve the recipe, for the introduction of a new product or if the packing format is altered: The right equipment is decisive when processing chocolate. At ProSweets Cologne, in addition to processing systems, the focus also lies on packing machines which enable improved productivity and at the same time optimized resource efficiency.