Chocolates and Confections, 2e

1
Confectionary Ingredients and
Equipment

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Sweeteners

• Roles of sweeteners in confectionery

– Flavor
– Preservative
– Doctoring agents
– Humectant
– Bulking agent
– Source of crystallization

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Sweeteners

• Sucrose
– Comes from sugar cane or sugar beets; no longer any
difference between them
– One of the purest food substances available.
– Sucrose tends to crystallize in high concentrations
(over ~67%), therefore is seldom used by itself in
confections.
– Sucrose is available in a wide range of crystal sizes, in
addition to the powdered confectioners’ sugar.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Sweeteners: Sucrose Derivatives

• Molasses
– A by-product of the sugar refining process.
– Used primarily is for its distinctive flavor.
– Browns extensively during cooking from Maillard
browning.
– Available in varying degrees of darkness.
– All molasses for human consumption comes from
sugarcane, not sugar beets.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Sweeteners: Sucrose Derivatives

• Brown Sugar
– Commercial brown sugar is made by fully refining
sugar, then adding some molasses back to the refined
sugar.
• Molasses gives brown sugar its color and flavor,
and increases the sugar’s hygroscopicity.
– Turbinado sugar is another type of brown sugar that is
made by leaving some of the molasses in the sugar
during refining.

Copyright © 2013 The Culinary Institute of America. All rights reserved.

 Confectionary Ingredients
Sweeteners: Sucrose Derivatives

• Invert Sugar
– Made by splitting sucrose into fructose and dextrose,
either by using an acid, or by enzymatic activity.
– Sweeter than sucrose and contributes to Maillard
browning.
– Helps to prevent crystallization of sucrose.
– Invert sugar is far more soluble than sucrose, and so
increases the dissolved solids of confections,
extending their shelf-life.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Sweeteners: Glucose Syrups

• Glucose syrup is the name for nutritive sweeteners made

through the hydrolysis of starch. They may be made from
any type of edible starch.
• Corn Syrup = Glucose Syrup made from corn starch
• DE (Dextrose Equivalence) is the specification by which
glucose syrups are purchased.
• DE is a measurement of how completely a starch has
been converted into simple sugars. The more completely
the starch is broken down, the higher the DE rating.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Sweeteners: Glucose Syrups

• The DE of a glucose syrup has profound effects on its

working characteristics.
• 42 DE syrup is the most commonly used glucose syrup in
confectionery.
• Specialty syrups such as high maltose and high fructose
syrups are available for specific uses.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Sweeteners: Honey

• Honey is produced by bees from gathered nectar.

• Honey has a carbohydrate profile nearly identical to that
of invert sugar..
• The color and flavor of honey is greatly affected by the
flowers from which the nectar was gathered.
• In confectionery, honey is used mainly for flavor
purposes.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Sweeteners: Maple

• Maple syrup and sugar are both made by removing water

from the sap of the sugar maple tree, thus concentrating
the sugar content.
• The sugar found in maple syrup is almost completely
sucrose.
• Maple syrup’s flavor and color is affected by the climate,
soil, time of year, and cooking procedure.
• The higher the grade of maple syrup the ligher in flavor
and color.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Fats: Cocoa Butter

• Cocoa butter is the fat that naturally occurs in cocoa

beans.
• Cocoa butter has a narrow melting range that is just
below normal body temperature.
• Cocoa butter is expensive, and due to its polymorphism,
difficult to work with.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Fats: Butter

• Butter is either added directly, or through the use of dairy

products containing butterfat.
• Butter is a water in fat emulsion.
• Butter contains both milk solids and lactose, therefore
browns due to Maillard browning.
• When combined with cocoa butter, the combined fat has a
melting point lower than that of cocoa butter alone.
• Butterfat is a permissible ingredient in the manufacture of
American dark chocolate, and is used as a bloom
inhibitor.
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 Confectionary Ingredients
Fats: Lauric Fats

• Lauric fats are also know as tropical fats.

• Examples are coconut fat and palm kernel oil.
– Coconut fat is most commonly used by confectioners.
• When combined with cocoa butter, lauric fats create an
eutectic that melts at a lower temperature than either fat
alone.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Dairy Products: Fresh

• The defining difference between fresh dairy products is

the fat content.
• Fresh dairy products are relatively expensive, high in
water, and require refrigeration for storage, but usually
offer a superior flavor to processed dairy products.
• While a range of dairy products may be used in
confectionery, fresh dairy should always be used in
making ganache.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Dairy Products: Cultured

• Cultured dairy products (yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk,

crème fraiche) have little use in confectionery due to their
tendency to curdle when heated.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Dairy Products: Processed

• Evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk are

commonly used in confectionery due to their lower water
content and ease of storage.
• They are particularly well suited to making cooked sugar
confections such as caramels and fudge.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Flavorings and Color Agents: Flavors
• Manufactured flavors fall into two general categories:
“natural” and artificial
– The chemicals used to make natural flavors are from
permitted food sources.
– The chemicals used to make artificial flavors and from
other sources, often petroleum.
– Manufactured flavors should be generally avoided by
artisan confectioners except in hard candies, and other
applications where their use is nearly a necessity.
– Organic acids; such as citric, malic, or tartaric acids; are
sometimes used as flavoring agents to offset sweetness.
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 Confectionary Ingredients
Flavorings and Color Agents: Colors
• Colors fall into two general categories: fat soluble, and
water soluble.
– Fat soluble colors are used for coloring cocoa butter or
chocolate.
– Water soluble colors are used for coloring aqueous
systems such as hard candy.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Flavorings and Color Agents: Nuts and Seeds
• Frequently used as flavoring, and are often roasted first to
improve their flavor
• Due to their high fat content, nuts are prone to rancidity,
and must be purchased in small quantities and stored
properly.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Flavorings and Color Agents: Water
• Water is a vital ingredient in most of confectionery.
– Solvent for sugars
– Medium for reactions such as Maillard browning and
inversion
– A defining feature of emulsions

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Flavorings and Color Agents: Water
• Total water
– Amount of total water affects the firmness of the
finished confection.
– Total water is controlled by cooking syrups to
concentrate the sugar content.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Flavorings and Color Agents: Water
• Free water
– Water that is chemically unbound
– Free water limits the shelf life of the confections.
• Bound water
– Water that is chemically bound to another substance,
usually sugar
– It is not available, and does not limit the shelf life.

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 Confectionary Ingredients
Flavorings and Color Agents: Water
• Water may differ from location to location in pH and
mineral content, and will therefore cause different results,
particularly in cooked sugar confections.

Copyright © 2013 The Culinary Institute of America. All rights reserved.

 Confectionary Equipment
Overview
• The equipment needs of confectioners vary depending
upon the types of products and volume being produced.
• Little special equipment is needed to produce small
quantities of most confections
• As specialization and volume increase more equipment
and machinery can be used to streamline production and
increase efficiency.

Copyright © 2013 The Culinary Institute of America. All rights reserved.