Chocolate confectionery

Most chocolate is consumed in the form of chocolate confectionery. Sweet chocolate is produced from chocolate liquor with the addition of sugar and cocoa butter. Sometimes called dark chocolate, sweet chocolate must contain at least 15% chocolate liquor, but may contain as much as 50%. Semisweet or bittersweet chocolate consists of a minimum of 35% chocolate liquor. The chocolate liquor content results in sweet and semisweet chocolate containing the highest amount of theobromine and caffeine per serving of any type of chocolate confectionery (Table 9). Within brands of sweet chocolate, there is wide variation in the methylxanthine... 

Theobromine and Caffeine Concentration in Commercial Chocolate Confectionery Products... 

On the basis of United States Department of Commerce Shipment data, Americans consumed about 5 kg per person of chocolate confectionery products in 1993.52 Of this quantity, enrobed and molded chocolate products comprised 53%, solid chocolate products with or without inclusions were 22%, and panned or assorted chocolate products made up the remaining 23%. Per capita consumption of chocolate confectionery products in 1993 increased 4.3% over the previous year and 0.7 kg per person since 1983. 

Foods derived from cocoa beans have been consumed by humans since at least 460 to 480 AD, presumably with no major health effects. Most chocolate is consumed in the form of chocolate confectionery. On the basis of USDA dietary survey data, 12% of the population consumed chocolate confectionery at least once in three days with an average intake of 50.5 g... 

Hadorn, H., Theobromine-, caffeine- and total alkaloid contents of cocoa mass, CCB Rev. Chocolate Confectionery Bakery, 5, 26, 1980. 

Jensen, H. R., The Chemistry, Flavouring and Manufacture of Chocolate, Confectionery and Cocoa, Churchill, London, 1931. 

Cocoa butter is derived from the tree Theobroma cacao, which grows in several tropical areas, including Indonesia, the Ivory Coast, Malaysia, New Guinea and Brazil, which dominate the trade. The seeds of the tree, known as cocoa beans, were first consumed in the form of a drink prepared by the Maya and Aztec Indians. Cocoa beans were carried to Europe during the 16th century and the product was developed into the sweetened solid bar we are familiar with as chocolate. Cocoa butter is used mainly in the manufacture of chocolate confectionery, but it is also popular for applications in cosmetics and as an ingredient of pharmaceutical creams. 

Unlike chocolate confectionery, sugar confectionery is free of legal definitions. Terms such as pastille or lozenge although they have an understood meaning, at least to those in the trade, are sometimes applied to products that are not strictly within that understood meaning, e.g. there are products that are sold as pastilles but which are, in fact, boiled sweets. Butterscotch must contain butter, but gums do not have to contain any gum. 

Pastry, Cake, and Biscuit Products. In general, fats play several essential nutritional, technological, functional, and organoleptic roles in most all-bakery applications. As a result of its physical properties, fat plays a major part in the production of the majority of items in the pastry, cake, biscuit, and chocolate confectionery sector for example, in the preparation of pastry cream and in the desired appearance and texture of the end product. These physical properties include, above all, the rheological properties (consistency, plasticity, texture, etc.), and the properties of fusion and crystallization depend on the type of fat, the temperature, and the working conditions of the product. 

Confectionery-Liquors and Liqueur. In chocolate confectionery and for pastry creams, it is the physical properties linked to the fusion and the crystallization of the fat that are essential. For milk chocolate, for coating or in bars, AMF can be used in proportions that depend on its compatibility with cocoa butter, whose properties of hardness and rapid fusion at 35°C cannot be altered. Thus it is currently accepted that AMF with high fusion levels obtained by the fractionation technique can be used. In general, milkfat has an interesting characteristic it inhibits the appearance of fat bloom (133). 

Chocolate makes a good NMR sample as it contains mobile and immobile phases and has a high proton density. Hall and co-workers have carried out a general survey of chocolate confectionery by MRI324 and have visualized the migration of liquid triacylglycerol by the same method.325 The use of NMR relaxation to assess chocolate has also been considered.326... 

PP packaging films are nsually printed on their surfaces (e.g., in confectionery and snack food prodncts packaging). In this case however, the transfer of ink components can occnr from the onter printed surface of the film onto the inner food contact snrfaces. If there are plasticisers like dihexyl phthalate (DHP) [or bis-w-butyl phthalate (DBP), or di-2-ethyl hexyl phthalate (DEHP)] in the ink, up to 6% of the DHP can migrate to the food immediately (or 6.7 mg/kg for 180 days storage of a chocolate/confectionery product), the proportion increasing with storage time. 

In terms of production quantity, vanillin is one of the most important scent and aroma chemicals. It is the main component of natural vanilla flavour, which has been used as a spice for centuries. Nowadays, vanilla is used as a flavour in many desserts, drinks, chocolate, confectionery, ice cream and bakery products, as well as in perfumery. 

Uses Emollient emulsifier filling fat for chocolate/confectionery prods. personal care applies. in food-pkg. adhesives defoamer in food-contact paper/paperboard in food-... 

N-(n-Butyl)-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane 3-Glycidyloxypropyltriethoxysilane filler paints, exterior Microcrystalline cellulose filling fat, chocolate/confectionery prods. 

Science and technology of enrobed and filled chocolate, confectionery and bakery products... 

---