Baker Perkins at Sweet & SnackTec Middle East
Date: 05 October 2010
Colourful lollipops and hard candies, plus new cooking systems
Baker Perkins is focusing on colourful product opportunities for lollipops and hard candy provided by developments to the ServoForm family of depositors, and the new ‘AutoCook’ range of cooking systems, on stand A08 at the Sweet & SnackTec Middle East exhibition. The show is in Dubai from October 31 to November 2.
In the lollipop sector, both totally spherical ball and flat lollipops have recently been added to the range of conventional ball and 3D lollipops. A totally spherical shape improves appearance and gives a greater support area for the stick – especially important for centre-filled products.
ServoForm lollipop depositors handle up to four different components independently, right up to the point at which the product is formed, and this gives limitless scope for creativity in design from a repertoire that includes clear products with hard or soft centre-fills; 2, 3 and 4 colour lollipops with stripes and swirls, plus side-by-side and layered products.
Baker Perkins lollipop systems include automatic weighing, feeding, dissolving and colour/flavour addition, and involve the ‘Microfilm’ cooker from the new AutoCook range - accepted as the industry standard for sugar and sugar-free high boiled lollipops and candies.
High-capacity, fully-automated ServoForm lollipop cooking and depositing lines have capacities close to 80,000 pieces per hour, and may be direct linked to wrapping machines for complete automatic operation from ingredient feed to wrapped product. Systems are already at work around the world producing ball and 3D shaped lollipops.
Capability includes the ServoForm Duo, a combination system that enables hard candies and either ball or flat lollipops to be produced on the same machine.
In the hard candy sector, the new ServoForm Gemini Plus is a triple-headed depositor for ‘long term’ three-layered products with a genuine ‘sandwich’ appearance. It is a development of the Gemini twin-headed unit used for two-component ‘long term’ layered confectionery.
‘Long term’ layering involves a dwell time between each deposit, allowing the first level to partially set before the next one is deposited. This ensures that there is clear separation between deposits giving a true ‘layered’ effect.
This physical separation means that each layer can involve different colours, textures and flavours – contrasting or complementary. Lemon and lime, sweet and sour, spicy and sweet are typical. They can be sugar or sugar-free: the most common application is a combination of sugar-free polyol and Xylitol layers.
A single headed system can produce layered confectionery in either side by side or ‘short-term’ configurations. ‘Short term’ layering deposits two layers, one on top of the other in a one-shot process. The bottom layer does not have time to set so the top layer sinks into it creating some interesting effects such as ’coffee cups’ and ‘eyeballs’.
Baker Perkins has also launched AutoCook systems for cooking every kind of sugar confectionery, exploiting the proven range of unique Baker Perkins process technologies.
AutoCook systems are configured from a wide array of units to provide an economic, compact solution for a wide range of outputs, backed by Baker Perkins’ unequalled experience, process know-how and Lifetime Support guarantee. They cover the full range of syrup based confectionery including hard candy, lollipops, toffee, fondants, fudge, jellies and fruit snacks.
An AutoCook system can be configured to make a variety of products – both soft and hard candies, for example. Each system involves batch or continuous weighing, mixing and dissolving, plus continuous cooking.
The choice of cooking method includes versatile Microfilm, Turbofilm and plate pack units, as well as specialised toffee, fondant and jelly cookers. Preparation systems for soft centres, gum centres and Xylitol products can be integrated.
Baker Perkins cooking systems can feed to most types of confectionery forming systems. They are factory tested before being shipped, mounted on compact skids for ease of installation, and come with controls that can be either stand alone or integrated with upstream and downstream systems.
