Preparation of coated confectionery

Details Preparation of coated confectionery Preparation of coated confectionery

1999-10-27

2001-06-26

Cano, Milton (Department: 1761)

Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products

Surface coating of a solid food with a liquid

C426S093000, C426S306000, C426S307000, C425S101000, C425S237000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06251454

ABSTRACT:

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of confectionery products, wherein at least one first confectionery component is at least partially coated by at least one second confectionery component.
It is well known to prepare chocolate-coated confectionery centres by such methods as enrobing (Chocolate, Cocoa and Confectionery: Science and Technology, B. W. Minifie; Churchill Press, 1970: pp129-136) or panning (ibid pp137-138). The former requires a great deal of skill to maintain uniform coating of chocolate on the centres, whilst the latter also requires skill and is, furthermore, a slow process which is only suitable for sufficiently robust centres. Particular problems arise with the panning of small, ie. under 8 mm, centres such as raisins and expanded cereal, which often results in much extended panning times, unevenly sized particles and the coated centres becoming stuck together.
It is also known to make use of a drop-roller system to make small, usually spherically shaped articles such as chocolate drops or boiled sweets (ibid p118). However, it is impracticable in a conventional drop-roller system to use soft confectionery components such as base-creme, fudge, noisette, fondant creme, turkish delight or soft caramel.
It is an object of this invention to provide an efficient and versatile coating process suitable for a wide range of confectionery centres and coating materials.
According to the present invention, there is provided a process for the preparation of confectionery products, comprising the steps of a) supplying at least one first confectionery component and at least one second confectionery component to a nip defined by the juxtaposition of a pair of forming elements, at least one of said pair of forming elements having a multiplicity of recesses in one surface; and b) passing said confectionery components through said nip by motion of said forming elements so as to form the products to the required shape by means of the recesses and to cause said first confectionery component to be at least partially coated by said second confectionery component.
Preferably, each of said pair of forming elements has a multiplicity of recessses in a surface thereof, and the forming elements are arranged so that respective recesses in the two forming elements lie opposite one another in the nip defined between the forming elements.
Preferably step (b) is effected by downward motion of said forming elements.
The process may in addition comprise the step of providing an additional coating layer. This is advantageous if there is only partial coating of said first confectionery component and provides a smoother surface, and in any case may be used to increase the size of the confectionery product. Preferably, said additional coating layer is provided by a panning procedure, which may be of short duration.
In a first embodiment, in step (a) above, said at least one first confectionery component is supplied directly to the nip, whereas said at least one second confectionery component is supplied indirectly to the nip by supplying it to the recesses of at least one of said forming elements and moving the thus supplied recesses to the nip. Thus, it is to be understood that the same or different second confectionery components may be supplied independently to the recesses of each forming element.
In a second embodiment, in step (a) above, said at least one first confectionery component is supplied indirectly to said nip by supplying it to the recesses of at least one of said forming elements and moving the thus supplied recesses to the nip, whereas said at least one second confectionery component may be supplied either directly to the nip or indirectly as in the first embodiment. Thus it is to be understood that the same or different first confectionery components and/or the same or different second confectionery components may be supplied independently to the recesses of each forming element.
Preferably the recesses are supplied with said at least one second confectionery component before being supplied with said at least one first confectionery component. Most advantageously, said at least one second confectionery component is supplied so that it completely covers the surfaces of the recesses.
Preferably, the process makes use of forming elements which are cooled to below ambient temperature, more preferably, −10° C. to −20° C., most preferably about −18° C.
Preferably, the process is effected using a nip defined by a spacing between the forming elements which is 1 to 3 mm, more preferably about 2 mm.
Preferably, the recesses in the surface of one of said forming elements are aligned with respective recesses in the surface of the other forming element at the nip. The recesses may be hemispherical or elongate. Preferably, the elongations extend transversely to the direction of motion of the forming elements.
Because of the spacing between the forming elements, the products are generally obtained interconnected by a web of said second confectionery component, which may be removed subsequently, if required, by for example tumbling in a drum which is perforated so that only the resultant web pieces pass through.
Preferably, the process uses cylindrical rollers as the forming elements, so that step (b) is effected by contra-rotation of said cylindrical rollers about their respective longitudinal axes. Preferably, said longitudinal axes lie in a substantially horizontal plane.
In the process described, said second confectionery component may be any solidifiable liquid confectionery component suitable for coating e.g. chocolate, a chocolate-flavoured confection, another fat-based confection, or a sugar syrup which may be supplied in step (a) by for example deposition or spraying. Preferably, the process uses chocolate in any of its forms (eg. plain, milk, white) as the second confectionery component. Such a solidifiable liquid confectionery component will at least partially solidify on contact with said cooled forming elements.
The process may use any suitable first confectionery component(s), such as nuts, cherries, raisins and ginger. Surprisingly, such a process is also suitable even for brittle components such as malted milk balls and expanded cereals.
The process as described in the first embodiment is particularly suitable for soft or sticky first confectionery components, such as noisette, base-creme fudge, soft caramel, fondant creme, nougat and turkish delight. Said soft or sticky first confectionery component may be supplied to the nip in discrete pieces or as a continuous sheet.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein
FIGS. 1
to
3
show different configurations of apparatus suitable for dispensing confectionery components and forming them according to the process of the invention.
Referring now to
FIG. 1
, a first cylindrical roller
1
and a second cylindrical roller
2
, each having a multiplicity of hemispherical recesses
4
over their entire (not shown) peripheral surfaces
6
are spaced so as to define a nip
8
. The rollers
1
and
2
have mutually parallel longitudinal axes
10
lying in a horizontal plane. A motor (not shown) drives both rollers
1
and
2
. A hopper
12
, for dispensing chocolate
14
or other suitable solidifiable liquid component, is provided vertically above the nip
8
, and a second hopper
13
for gravity feeding a controlled quantity of expanded cereal pieces
16
or other suitable confectionery pieces, is provided at the 11 o'clock position (as viewed in
FIG. 1
) of the first roller
1
. The hopper has a lower outlet which is spaced from the peripheral surface
6
of the roller
1
by a distance which is slightly larger than the diameter of the confectionery pieces. Thus, the outlet of the hopper
6
together with the underlying moving recesses
4
define a gravity feed mechanism which enables each confectionery piece to be supplied on demand into a respective recess
4
.
In use, the rollers are cooled and c

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