MAKING AND MANUFACTURING CHOCOLATE
Three large manufacturers dominate the UK chocolate market: Nestlé Rowntree, Mars and Cadburys. Nestlé’s manufacture of chocolate is carried out in York. In Girvan, Scotland, milk crumb is manufactured and used by other Nestlé factories.
- Melted chocolate
The Operations Department
This department is responsible for taking raw materials and components and turning them into finished products. The products have to be of the right quality, in the right quantities and available at the right time. The operations department needs to liaise closely with the purchasing and marketing departments. It has to keep up to date with stock levels and customer requirements, allow for rising or falling demand and keep accurate records for other departments.
The Production Team
Production managers are responsible for production teams and planners. The production teams are in charge of manufacturing, and packing or wrapping. The scientific and technical manager is responsible for: quality systems co-ordination; product and process development; and packaging development.
Many parts of the manufacturing process are fully automated. Quality checks are carried out at critical control points. Quite often, quality is maintained because key factors, which control the process, are already understood. If these factors remain unchanged, traditional quality inspections are sometimes not necessary.
In factories such as Nestlé’s, all production employees are given hygienic training and must pass the Institute of Environmental Health Certificate of Food Hygiene.
The Production Process
Chocolate manufacturing takes place in large, modern buildings and makes use of scientific developments, which enable the company to save space, time and energy. As part of the modernisation programme, energy efficiency programmes have been introduced, together with waste reduction and better insulation. Water is increasingly being recovered from processes so that it can be reused in boilers, which saves energy and reduces the quantities required.
The production process can be divided into stages:
- Storage: When the cocoa beans arrive, they undergo laboratory tests for quality control. They may then be stored in sacks in warehouses. There the temperature and humidity are carefully controlled and the beans are protected from insects. On the other hand, the beans may be stored in huge silos which are 12-35 metres high and hold up to 1,000 tonnes.
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Cleaning and Sorting: Before the manufacturing process can begin, all the dirt must be removed. The beans are cleaned by sieving and brushing with vacuum equipment and electromagnets.
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Winnowing: The beans may be pre-treated by a special process. Heat causes moisture in the beans to crack the shell. The shell is removed by the winnowers, leaving the centre of the beans, known as the nib.
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Roasting: This process develops the aroma (smell) of the nib. The nibs are roasted at 130 degrees centigrade and sterilised.
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Grinding: The nibs are then ground using a combination of beaters and millstones. The frictional heat causes the cocoa butter contained in the nib to melt, so a liquid paste is formed. The grinding also reduces the size of the particles in the nib, making the liquid paste smooth.
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Blending: Each manufacturer blends (mixes) the nibs according to special recipes. These recipes help create the chosen flavour and quality of the chocolate. Blending also influences the hardness of the chocolate, keeping the quality consistent and ensures the customer gets value for money. A manufacturer may blend as many as eight or ten varieties of cocoa in one recipe. However, nowadays large scale manufacturers tend to use only three or four varieties in milk chocolate.
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Cocoa butter and cocoa powder: Some of the cocoa paste is pressed to remove the cocoa butter. This butter is what gives the chocolate a shine or glossy appearance. The cocoa cakes left behind are then crushed to a powder and this is cocoa.
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Mixing and kneading: Manufacturers can produce three types of chocolate by blending a mix of basic ingredients: cocoa pastes, cocoa butter, sugar and milk. Plain chocolate is made by mixing the cocoa paste with cocoa butter and sugar. Milk chocolate has milk added to this mixture, usually as a dry powder. White chocolate contains only cocoa butter, sugar and milk. The quantities of the ingredients are based on secret recipes. Each recipe is developed according to how the chocolate will be used, the quality required and the food regulations that apply in some countries.
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Refining: To remove the gritty texture, the chocolate mixture is passed upwards through a series of steel rollers, which turn in opposite directions. This process is called refining and the steel rollers are contained in a machine called a refiner.
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Conching: This process removes unwanted flavours, coats the solid particles with fat and develops the desired flavours. Conching may be carried out in long troughs in which a roller travels from one end to the other. However, circular conches are more common. They have a larger capacity and are more efficient than long troughs. Conching creates a wave and adds air to the mixture, to ensure that the flavour develops perfectly. Cocoa butter and an emulsifier are gradually added to keep the chocolate liquid and make the recipe to the correct proportions. Aromas are sometimes added towards the end of conching.
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Temporary storage: The liquid chocolate needs to be stored after it leaves the conches. It is kept in tanks at a constant temperature and is stirred regularly to prevent fats separating from solids. For longer periods, the chocolate may be stored as blocks.
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Tempering: This process involves heating the chocolate to 45 degrees and then cooling it to 30 degrees (for dark chocolate) or 29 degrees (for milk chocolate). Tempering adjusts the fat crystals into their correct forms. This ensures that the chocolate sets with an attractive, glossy surface and does not ‘bloom’ (go white).
- Chocolate - all shapes and sizes!
Chocolate products
- Filled bars: Liquid chocolate is poured into deep moulds. These moulds are turned upside-down quickly, leaving only a thin coating of chocolate on the inside. This coating is left to harden. The chosen filling is put into the upright moulds and covered with a layer of chocolate, which becomes the base of the bar.
- Assorted chocolates: These can be made by the same process as filled bars, or by a process called enrobing. Here, the chosen fillings are placed on a wire net conveyor belt and pass under a curtain of liquid chocolate so that they are completely coated or enrobed.
- Blocks: solid bars, tablets and neapolitans: Measured amounts of chocolate are poured into moulds on a conveyor belt and are taken to the cooling tower. (If the chocolate needs to have additives, such as nuts or flavours, these are blended with the chocolate paste first). The cooled bars are turned out of the moulds and wrapped.
- Solid shapes: Chocolate is poured into two matching half-moulds and left to harden. The flat surfaces of both halves are lightly warmed and pressed together until they join.
- Hollow shapes: Liquid chocolate is injected into hollow moulds, which rotate on a machine, which spins them until the chocolate is spread evenly over the inside.
- Buttons: Liquid chocolate is poured between two very cold rollers with circular impressions. When the rollers turn, the depressions overlap and produce chocolate buttons. For Smarties, the crisp sugar shells are added in a revolving drum. The coated buttons are tumbled so that they have a shiny finish.
View Nestlé Nutrition Information for Confectionery & Cakes
