EP0177489A1

EP0177489A1 - Process of manufacturing candy bars containing wafers and wafer bars manufactured thereby

Info

Publication number: EP0177489A1
Application number: EP84901518A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Carl You Wong; Mir Najafali Khan; John Albert Mihalik
Original assignee: Hershey Foods Corp
Current assignee: Hershey Co
Priority date: 1983-03-21
Filing date: 1984-03-19
Publication date: 1986-04-16
Also published as: PH21511A; WO1985004075A1

Abstract

Procédé de production de piles de gaufrettes et de crème, ainsi qu'une barre de confiserie contenant des gaufrettes et de la crème, enrobée de chocolat, où les couches individuelles de crème et de gaufrette ne se séparent pas après la production. Après cuisson (20) des feuilles de gaufrettes, celles-ci sont refroidies (23) et amenées à maturation dans un tunnel de maturation en ligne (26). Ces feuilles sortent immédiatement du tunnel de maturation pour entrer dans une chambre dont la température et l'humidité relatives sont maintenues avec soin. Une couche de crème est appliquée sur les feuilles (28) et des empilements de couches de crème et de gaufrette sont formés et refroidis (30). Ces empilements sont découpés (32) en unités plus petites qui sont enrobées d'une pâte de chocolat (34). Le produit enrobé est alors évacué de la chambre pour permettre son traitement ultérieur (36, 38).Method for producing stacks of wafers and cream, as well as a confectionery bar containing wafers and cream, coated with chocolate, where the individual layers of cream and wafer do not separate after production. After baking the wafer sheets (20), they are cooled (23) and brought to ripening in an in-line ripening tunnel (26). These leaves immediately leave the ripening tunnel to enter a room whose relative temperature and humidity are carefully maintained. A layer of cream is applied to the sheets (28) and stacks of layers of cream and wafer are formed and cooled (30). These stacks are cut (32) into smaller units which are coated with a chocolate paste (34). The coated product is then removed from the chamber to allow its further processing (36, 38).

Description

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING CANDY BARS CONTAINING WAFERS AND WAFER BARS MANUFACTURED THEREBY

Background of the Invention Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a process for manufacturing a chocolate enrobed creamed wafer candy bar and to a novel process for producing laminations of wafers and cream that do not tend to delaminate after a subsequent enrobing with chocolate. Description of the Prior Art

The business of making chocolate enrobed wafer and cream layered candy bars is complicated and small problems quickly become major problems because of the large quantity of bars produced. The quality of the candy bar, both as perceived by the merchant stocking it on his shelf and by the customer as he unwraps it, is of paramount importance, and must be preserved.

One of the problems heretofore encountered by the industry is how to prevent the individual layers of wafer and cream from separating after the candy bar is shipped. As a candy bar sits on a shelf, a wafer layer will slowly become delaminated from the next underlying cream layer and peel backwards unless special precautions are taken. The candy bar will thus become disfigured and will lose its sales appeal.

One way the industry has tried to solve this problem has been to store quantities of wafer and cream stacks in large warehouses for anywhere from 3 days to three weeks and allow them to age under controlled conditions before the chocolate-enrobing process was carried out. These stacks were place on trays, which in turn were mounted on racks, which in turn were slowly-- over the selected time period--moved from the inlet to the exit of the warehouse. This process required a very large amount of space for storage, and took an unacceptable amount of time to carry out the aging process. Summary of the Invention

A process for producing wafer-cream stacks, and chocolate enrobed creamed wafter candy bars made from such stacks, is disclosed. Wafer sheets are first baked and then cooled over an arch cooler. The cooled wafer sheets are then passed through an in-line maturing tunnel. After emerging from the tunnel, the wafer sheets are immediately moved to a controlled environment room where a cream layer is applied to the wafer sheets by means of a creamer Wafer-cream stacks, or books made up of a plurality of such creamed wafer sheets, are thus formed. These books are passed through a cooler for a predetermined time at a preselected temperature. They are then cut into smaller stack units and then enrobed with a chocolate paste. Each of the steps starting with the entry to the creamer and ending with the exit from the enrober is carried out in the controlled environment room. It is essential to the practice of this invention that the product does not emerge from the controlled conditions until after it has been enrobed. After the enrobing step, the final products emerge from the controlled environment room and are then cooled, packaged and shipped to the customer or added to inventory. Objects of the Invention

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a process for producing wafer-cream stacks for use in the manufacture of chocolate enrobed creamed wafer candy bars that results in better quality candy bars.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process for production of wafer-cream stacks that involves in-line maturing of these stacks.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a process, and a candy bar produced thereby, for producing a chocolate enrobed wafer creamed candy bar wherein the layers do not separate after production of the finished product.

These and other objects of this invention will appear from the following specification, and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention, since, in view of the disclosure herein, others may be able to make additional embodiments within the scope of the appended claims. Description of the Preferred Embodiment

The steps for the process of making a chocolate enrobed creamed wafer candy bar are shown in the attached block diagram. The process begins, with a mixing of various ingredients 11 and water 12. This mixing is called a batter mixing step 14 and starts with mixing sugar and water for 30 seconds. This is done to make sure that the maximum amount of sugar is dissolved in the water. Next, a quantity of sodium bicarbonate, soft wheat flour, refined palm kernal oil and lecithin (a release agent) are added in the proportions shown hereafter in the example. Batter mixing 14 is done by a standard commercial mixer, such as Batter Mixer Type TM 120 made by the Franz Haas Waffelmaschinen Industriegesellschaft mbH, hereinafter Franz Haas Co. , in which these ingredients are mixed for an additional 3 1/2 minutes. The batter viscosity should now be 1500-3000 centipoise as measured by a standard viscosity measuring instrument. The batter temperature should be approximately 75° plus or minus 5° Fahrenheit during the mixing step.

After the batter is thoroughly mixed, a wafer sheet is produced. The batter is delivered into an Automatic Wafer Baking Machine, such as the type SWAK 32G made by the Franz Haas Co. This machine consists of a series of waffle-like plates that are attached to a moving conveyor which carries to plates through an oven. For each wafer sheet approximately 145 grams of batter are baked at temperatures between 325° and 350°F for 2 minutes. This gives a wafer sheet thickness of between 2.2 and 2.3 millimeters with a weight of 57 to 59 g. The dimensions of these wafer sheets are 445.5 mm long by 317 mm wide. The moisture of the wafer is between 1.5 and 1.8 percent.

The wafer sheet automatically drop out of their waffle iron-type baking plates to a delivery belt which immediately feeds an arch cooler 23 such as the Wafer Sheet Cooler, Type TBK 2.0 manufactured by the Franz Haas Co. The passage of the wafer sheets up and over the arch and down the other side, takes about 5 minutes. The wafer sheets now pass immediately into an in-line maturing tunnel 26 such as the model KT160 made by Franz Haas Co. In step 26, the conditions are carefully controlled at a temperature of about 57°C and a dew point of about 43°C. At this time the wafer sheet weight is between 59.8 and 61.3 g with a moisture content of between 4.5 and 5.5 percent. The length by width dimension is now 450 by 320 mm and the warpage is between 12 to 14 mm. The time the sheets spend in the maturing tunnel is controlled to about 21.5 minutes. On emerging from maturing tunnel 26 the wafers pass immediately into a controlled environment room where the temperature is maintained in the range from about 65° to about 80°F and the relative humidity ismaintained at about 30 percent or less. The controlled environment room is an enclosed arearsufficiently large to contain all of the apparatus from the exit from the in-line maturing tunnel to the exit from the enrobing apparatus.

At this point in the process the cream 27, for example, a flavored peanut cream, is added as at step 28. The wafer sheets receive a cream coating from a Franz Haas Co. Cream Spreading machine, Type FSTM 5. In the case of flavored cream, there is a flavored cream to wafer ration of about 72:28. The flavored cream temperature is about 81° to 84°F. After the wafer sheets receive the cream, books or layers of wafer and cream are formed and these books are cooled to a temperature of about 55°F by passing them through a Franz Haas Co. Wafer Cooling Press Type WK 60 , as at step 30, for a period of about 20 minutes.

The next step after the cooling is to cut the books into smaller units. The books are cut as at step 32 by a Franz Haas Co. Wafer Cutting Machine, Type AWD-2, into dimensions of 102 mm long by 36 mm wide by 14.5 mm high which produces a weight for each unit of about 26.8 g. After the books have been cut into candy bar size, an enrobing process, such as at step 34, is carried out. In this process, a chocolate paste is spread over each unit. The unit to chocolate ratio is about 65:35 and the standards for identifying the chocolate used are as prescribed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as published in 21, C.F.R. 163.111, .123 and .130. This is the end of the time period that the wafers and other ingredients remain in the controlled, room conditions, from steps 23 through 34, and a total time of only about 46 minutes has elapsed. It has been discovered that when these conditions are maintained, the resulting ultimate wafer-cream layered and enrobed candy bar does not become delaminated for long periods of time after the packaging step 38.

The wafer enrobed candy bars are sent on a conveyor to a cooling tunnel as at step 36 that has 3 zones. Zone 1 temperature is about 55°F, Zone 2 temperatures is about 55°F, Zone 3 temperature is about 64°F. The enrobed candy bars spend approximately 5 minutes in each zone. Candy bar weight is now about 42.3 g and the dimensions are 106.9 mm long by 40.6 mm wide by 17.2 mm high. After the bars come out of the cooling tunnels, they are sent into a packaging area and are immediately wrapped and packaged as at step 38. EXAMPLE

The specific batter formula used in step 14 to make the wafer batter is as follows:

%

1. soft wheat flour (unenriched) 30.00

2. Refined Palm Kernel Oil 0.25

3. lecithin (oil) 1.50

4. sodium bicarbonate 0.06

31.81 5. H₂O* 50 liters

*Flour/water ratio is adjusted to achieve proper viscosity for processing.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A process for producing a chocolate enrobed creamed wafer candy bar comprising the steps of: a. producing sheets of baked wafers; b. cooling said sheets; c. maturing said sheets in an in-line maturing tunnel; d. maintaining a controlled environment room in which the temperature is in the range from about 65° to about 80°F and the relative humidity is maintained at or below about 30%; e. passing said sheets out of said tunnel and into said controlled environment room; f. applying a cream to said wafers; and g. applying a chocolate enrobing to said creamed wafers while inside said room to produce a chocolate enrobed creamed wafer candy bar.

2. A process for producing a candy bar as in claim 1 wherein said maturing step includes passing said cooled sheets through an in-line maturing tunnel immediately adjacent said room in which the temperature is maintained at a second temperature higher than that of the said room.

3. A process for producing a candy bar as in claim 2 wherein said process including the steps of: a. applying a layer of cream to said sheet after said sheets emerge from said in-line tunnel; b. forming stacks of wafer sheet layers and cream; c. cooling said stacks of wafer and cream layers; d. cutting said stacks of wafer and cream layers into smaller units of wafer and cream layers; and e. enrobing said smaller units with a chocolate paste.

4. A process for producing a chocolate enrobed creamed wafer candy bar comprising the steps of: a. producing sheets of baked wafers; b. cooling said sheets; c. maintaining a controlled environment room in which the temperature is in the range from about 65° to about 80°F and the relative humidity is maintained at or below about 30%; d. passing said cooled sheets into and through an in-line maturing tunnel and into said room, said tunnel being maintained at a temperature higher than that of said room; e. coating said wafer sheets with a cream and forming stacks of layers of wafer and cream in said room; f. cooling said stacks of wafer and cream layer in said room; g. cutting said stacks into units of predetermined dimensions in said room; h. enrobing said units with a chocolate paste in said room; i. cooling said enrobed units in a cooling tunnel outside of said room; and j. packaging said units to preserve the inherent qualities of taste, smell, texture, shape and freshness.

5. A candy bar produced in accordance with the process of claim 1.

6. A candy bar produced in accordance with the process of claim 4.

7. A process for producing a wafer for use in a candy bar comprising the steps of: a. making a wafer mixture by mixing predetermined amounts of sugar, water, sodium bicarbonate, soft wheat flour, refined palm kemal oil and lecithin for approximately four minutes; b. baking said wafer mixture into sheets of a predetermined size in an oven at a temperature between 325°F. and 350°F for approximately two minutes; c. cooling said sheets for approximately five minutes; d. maintaining a controlled environment room in which the temperature is in the range from about 65° to 80°F. and the relative humidity is maintained at or below about 30%; and e. passing said cooled wafer sheets into. and through an in-line maturing tunnel and into said room for further processing, said tunnel being maintained at a second temperature higher than that of said room.

8. A wafer produced in accordance with the process of claim 7.