BOILED SWEETS

BOILED SWEETS

Legal definition: High cooked, colored and flavored sugar masses, at about 97-98% solids, which are formed into candies of desired shape and size. Technically, boiled sweet is applied to mixtures of sucrose and glucose syrup which are cooked to such a high temperature( 149-155 C) that the cooked mass becomes clearly marked by the following characteristics.

1) Non-crystalline, clear and glassy in appearance and will remain so under conditions of dry and cool storage.

2) An extremely low amount of residual moisture (1-3%).

3) After cooking the two main components sucrose and glucose syrup are accompanied by a variable amount of invert sugar (the result of partial inversion of sucrose which takes place during the cooking process).

Commercial definition: They also called high boiling sweets, hard candies drops and are represented by three general types.

•Plain hard candy.

•Filled boiled sweets.

•Sugarless boiled sweets.

Plain hard candy.

•They can be classified as follows in four main groups.

•Acidified hard candies/fruit drops: these are fruit flavored boiled sweets.

•Non-acidified hard candies like peppermint drop cough drops, etc: typically medicated tablets intended to be dissolved slowly in the mouth to lubricate and soothe the tissues of the irritated throat.

•High milk caramels-contain smooth milk caramels

•Hard candies with added –value ingredients such as peanut brittles, malted candies

Filled boiled sweets

•These are composed of a clear, pulled, striped or grained jacket enclosing a center which can be liquid, Semi liquid, pastry or powdery. Includes:

1) Simple sugar-glucose syrup filling flavored with natural, nature-identical or artificial flavor.

2) Fruit filling which besides sugar and glucose syrup contains fruit pulp or jam.

3)Alcohol filling

4) Fat filling based on chocolate, hazelnut or almond paste, peanut butter, etc.

5) Powdery filling like sherbet filling, licorice filling.

Sugarless boiled sweets

are characterized by the fact that they are composed of one or a combination of polyols. The following polyols are used

1. Sorbitol mannitol, xylitol- the generation polyols.

2.Maltitol, lactitol, isomaltitol-the second-generation polyols.

Applied forming process

•In relation to the applied forming method, boiled sweets can be divided into six main groups:

1) Drops when using old-fashioned drop rollers.

2) Candy balls, slices, chips, snippers, etc using a balling machine. Balled sweets are round or spherical in shape.

3) Plastic candies when using a rotary plastic molder or a cutting and forming chain. are produced by cutting and forming a rope of boiled sugar.

4) Deposited hard candies, when using depositing plant These sweets are of one single color, with a very smooth surface and practically without entrapped air inclusions

5) Rocks slices, candy sticks, etc, when using a cutting machine.

6) Lollipops-using a drop roller or a mold depositing system (flat lollipop) or rotary plastic molder (ball lollipop) with a stick push-in-device.

FORMULATION OF INGREDIENTS

The important parameter at the formulation stage is the ratio of sugar to glucose syrup. It is observed that high boilings (boiled sweets) have the highest proportion of glucose syrup.

1. WATER CONTENT:

a. The water content of the finished product depends upon the cooking temperature, making stable boiled sweets depends upon obtaining a product with low moisture content.

b. The higher the glass transition temperature the more stable the product. As water can be regarded as a plasticizer it reduces the viscosity of the system and thus reduces the glass transition temperature.

2. RATIO OF SUGAR TO SYRUP: The important parameter at the formulation stage is the ratio of sugar to glucose syrup. Invert sugar is not normally

a. Product is excessively hygroscopic,

b. Reduced shelf life by

c. Sticky product.

any invert sugar that is part of the formulation, any sucrose that is inverted during cooking, and the dextrose present in -the glucose syrup have to be removed.

Increasing the proportion of glucose syrup is beneficial; however, technically there are problems.

• Increasing the proportion of glucose syrup increases the proportion of dextrose and the high molecular weight dextrose oligomers.

• Increasing the proportion of dextrose makes the product more hygroscopic which increases the tendency of the product to become sticky.

• As the proportion of high molecular weight material is increased the viscosity of the liquid mass increases.

• Excessive viscosity at the liquid stage causes problems in shaping the product, particularly when depositing into molds. For example, if the viscosity is too high a tail forms on the depositor's head and this tail can lead to sharp points on the finished product. This viscosity and hygroscopicity problems restrict the proportion of glucose syrup that can be used.

Boiled sweets are made with ratios of sucrose to glucose of from 70: 30 to 45: 55. The common proportions are 60: 40 and 50: 50, the more extreme ratios being used where special properties are required.

3. ENZYME TECHNOLOGY: The acid-enzyme and particularly enzyme-enzyme syrups overcome these problems.

a. In enzyme-enzyme syrups, the carbohydrates are modified to increase the maltose while reducing the dextrose and the high molecular weight fraction.

b. Using these syrups a high boiling can be made with sucrose to glucose ratio of approximately 35: 75 with the properties of a 55:45 product. Thus, a superior product can be made at a lower cost owing to the application of enzyme technology.

MANUFACTURING PROCESS

•In making boiled sweets, the avoidance of Mallard browning reactions is important. Although the necessary low moisture contents can be achieved by boiling under atmospheric pressure the resulting product would be an unacceptable brown color with a caramelized flavor. The manufacturing process can be differentiated as:

–Small scale processing

–Medium-scale processing

–Large scale processing

SMALL SCALE MANUFACTURING

•On a small scale, we can use an open pan to dissolve the sugar and then to feed this to two vacuum pans. The vacuum-cooked mass is then poured onto a cooled metal slab and the mass is turned in on itself to cool the middle.

•Glucose syrup-based boiled sweets form cool skin on the outside. This means that they can be manipulated by hand. Because of this skin, it is necessary to fold the inside of the mass to the outside to cool it. When the mass has cooled sufficiently the color and flavor may be added and kneaded.

•When the temperature is right the product is then fed through a drop roller. A drop roller resembles an old-fashioned mangle except that the rollers are not smooth. The rollers have depressions in them that form the shape of the finished sweets or drops. The product enters the drop rollers shapeless and emerges having been squeezed into the finished shape.

MEDIUM SCALE MANUFACTURING

•In medium-scale processing a dedicated batch cooker is likely to be used. The batch cookers work on a semi-continuous basis and are a little smaller than continuous systems. Batch cookers have 2 chambers

–1st where the sugar is dissolved under atmospheric pressure

–2nd where the sugar and glucose are boiled under vacuum to the final concentration.

•The mass emerging is then cooled on the slab as before.

•After cooling and flavoring the product can also be fed to drop rollers as with small-scale processes.

•On this larger scale the product may be fed into batch rollers that produce a rope of product.

•This is then fed through a system of dies that stamp the sweets into shape.

LARGE SCALE MANUFACTURING

•Large-scale plants work continuously. A continuous dissolver is used to feed a continuous vacuum cooker (sugar is dissolved under pressure). This increases the boiling point of the water and allows more sugar to be dissolved within a given weight of water -this reduces the energy needed to boil off the water during the second stage.

•The difficult part is in retaining the vacuum as the cooled product is removed.

•The cooked mass is then cooled and the color and flavor are mixed.

•The product is deposited into molds to shape the finished sweets.