Dairy Ingredients in Chocolate and Confectionery Products 513used in the formulation mainly consist of
corn syrup, sugar, protein, fl avor, and color.
The quality of the ingredients is critical to the
formation of the air bubbles.
Whey powders, either sweet whey or par-
tially demineralized whey, can be used as a
cost - effective protein source in the formula-
tion of this type of confectionery. A minimum
of 10% protein in the whey is critical to avoid
product texture collapse after vacuum pro-
cessing. Many of these products are tolerant
of some salty fl avors, so extensive deminer-
alization often is not required.
For the production of vacuum - aerated
confections, batching of ingredients is fairly
straightforward. Corn syrup and sugar are
cooked to the desired solids (approximately
90%) and transferred to a suitable mixer
where the dry ingredients were previously
added. A thorough mixing process to allow
for a uniform mass then occurs. The mass is
unloaded into a sheeting device and the sheet
conveyed to the forming rolls.
The centers are then stored until ready for
expansion. Prior to expansion, the centers
must be uniformly heated to a desired tem-
perature of about 80 ° C to obtain the desired
amount of expansion. The preheated centers
are then conveyed through a vacuum tube
where vacuum is applied. Approximately 1%
moisture is removed and the product is cooled
suffi ciently so that the center will not col-
lapse. Excessive residual moisture causes the
extremely hygroscopic centers to become
wet and sticky, eventually collapsing the cell
structure completely. During the panning
process the centers should be completely
covered with chocolate or compound coating
to prevent moisture pickup (Wolfe, 1995 ).Conclusion
Milk and dairy ingredients play an important
role in the confectionery industry. These
ingredients provide characteristic textures
and fl avor profi les in chocolate and confec-
tionery products, and permit the productsdenatured WPIs (more than 90% protein)
offer a cost - effective alternative to the con-
fectionery manufacturer when used in com-
bination with the other aerating agents.
Nougat is a common aerated confection
that can be formulated using whey - based
ingredients. It is an aerated high boiled syrup
containing fat that has been stabilized by the
addition of a whipping agent. A basic nougat
formulation is shown in Table 19.3. The
formula and process used to produce nougat
can be adjusted to give a range of textures,
varying between a long - eating, chewy, non -
grained product and a short - eating, soft, fi ne -
grained product.
The texture of nougat is infl uenced by
the ratio of sugar to glucose syrup to invert
sugar syrup, the fi nal moisture content of
the nougat, the ratio of the liquid phase to the
solid phase, the type of whipping agent, the
degree of aeration, and the quantity and type
of added ingredients, e.g. fat, nuts, cherries,
etc.
Nougat can be produced using either batch
or continuous methods. The batch process
consists of boiling water, sugar, and corn
syrup under vacuum to a moisture content
of about 8% at a temperature of 120 ° C. A
vacuum cooker is used not only to reduce the
time of boiling but also to produce a cooked
syrup at a lower temperature — the higher the
temperature, the longer the beating time. The
vacuum - cooked syrup is transferred to a
robust and powerful atmospheric whipping
machine that can operate at two speeds, low
for mixing and blending and high for aerat-
ing. A protein - based whipping solution is
blended into the cooked mass before being
aerated at high speed, when the density is
reduced to 0.6 g/ml. A small quantity of icing
sugar to seed crystallization is blended into
the aerated product at low speed.
Vacuum - aerated products are another
common type of aerated confectionery
product which can be formulated using
whey - based ingredients, for example, malted
milk balls (Wolfe, 1995 ). The ingredients