Behind the Scenes of Your Favorite Sweets: The Intricate Process to Create Classic Desserts

Finding the Right OEM Partner: Six Production Trends to Consider in Chocolate Production

- Chris Sinutko

From candy to ice cream to cookies, the process of creating many of your favorite chocolate foods is more intricate than you might imagine.

Beyond the perfect recipe, the equipment to make the components of a seemingly simple confection needs to be specialized, calibrated and maintained to precise specifications for the product texture and taste to be just right. Companies like SPX FLOW, with a global team that has worked in the food and beverage sector for decades, works with manufacturers and processors worldwide, whether to maintain a classic recipe or innovate something new.

It is amazing how many products have a hand in helping to make chocolate. Whether it’s consistency in a product consumers already love or brainstorming and testing new ideas, dedicated, sophisticated and knowledgeable equipment partners can help.

Chocolate’s unique processes have much to do with temperature and mixing, requiring specialized equipment honed for specific uses. Here are six factors — and the equipment that goes with them — that help shape the chocolate-making process.

1. TEMPERATURE

The heating and cooling of chocolate is a significant determining factor in the end product. For example, the filling for a sandwich cookie needs a specific cooling process to ensure the taste customers love. The scraped surface heat exchanger (SSHE) is a crucial component of the job. Likewise, bakery filling creams and frostings, including the heavier versions for cookies or lighter for chocolate bars, nougat paste or coverings, rely on SSHEs.