Cost-effective toffee making
Date: 07 August 2003
Entry level line offers rapid return on investment
Baker Perkins is introducing a new Compact, cost-effective system to make a wide range of toffee and caramel products. The Compact line offers an entry level scheme with a rapid return on investment and an economical cooking and depositing solution for the toffee market.
Production flexibility ensures that ingredients such as butter, fondant and a variety of flavours can easily be added on a continuous basis to produce a full range of high quality traditional toffees and caramels. Products can be made in an assortment of colours with added-value centre-fillings such as jam and chocolate éclair.
This innovative plant combines Baker Perkins' established cooking, caramelising and depositing units into a continuous automated system, at outputs up to 350kg/hour. Continuous operation ensures high consistent quality, and also reduces labour requirements.
The complete line can be controlled centrally - from the cooking and mixing of ingredients through depositing to wrapping. Recipe management software can determine the complete process, and make product changeover a rapid push-button operation with minimal waste
Baker Perkins has almost a century of experience in designing and making complete production lines for the confectionery industry. The compact plant is an addition to the range of bespoke toffee and caramel production systems provided by Baker Perkins to meet a diversity of productivity and end-product requirements, at outputs in excess of 1000 kg/hour
Baker Perkins' proven technology is backed up with full support, including an Innovation Centre at its Peterborough headquarters, where customers can undertake process and product trials in a confidential environment
Cooking is accomplished in a 'Microfilm' falling film swept surface evaporator, which cooks the syrup to final solids in less than ten seconds, avoiding uncontrolled caramelisation. The Microfilm rotor consists of a steam jacketed tube with a high-speed rotor, fitted with hinged blades, which wipe the inner surface of the tube. The sugar is spread in a very thin film and is moved through the cooking tube by a combination of gravity and the design of hinged rotor blades.
The syrup passes to a Carablend unit where it caramelises under its own heat as it moves through a stainless steel tube with a totally enclosing steam coil wrap. Extra ingredients and flavours can be metered and blended during caramelisation; retention time can be accurately adjusted to achieve variation in the toffee colour.
The toffee is then deposited in a liquid state into rubber moulds. The Compact depositor is part of the Baker Perkins range of depositing technology that offers the confectioner more choices than any other range on the market. The option of servo-controlled depositing heads provides the benefits of greater flexibility, rapid changeover times, and fine-tuning 'on the run'.
