confectionary ingredients session 5

Learning Objectives

• Foundation – 3rd semester
• Bean to bar chocolate manufacturing
• Methods of tempering
• Fundamental techniques described in Chapter 4, p. 52
• The four cornerstones of chocolate and pastry making
• The artistic aspect of pastry
• Importance of personal hygiene in the kitchen

Types of Chocolates

• Chocolate liquor: processed chocolate that forms the base
• Dark chocolate: chocolate with a higher cocoa content and less sugar
• Milk chocolate: includes milk solids, sweeter than dark chocolate
• White chocolate: contains cocoa butter but no cocoa solids
• Ruby chocolate: made from ruby cocoa beans, a newer variety

Confectionary Basics

• Confection: Candy or sweet food items made from sugar
• Confectionery: The art of making sweet food items

Essential Confectionary Ingredients

Sweeteners

• Functions of Sweeteners:
  • Flavor enhancement
  • Acts as preservatives
  • Doctoring agents to prevent crystallization
  • Humectants to retain moisture
  • Bulking agents to restore properties of sugar
  • Source of crystallization for various processes

Types of Sweeteners

• Sucrose:

  • Comes from sugar cane or sugar beets
  • Tends to crystallize at high concentrations
  • Available in various crystal sizes, including powdered forms

• Molasses:

  • A by-product of sugar refining
  • Adds unique flavor and browning properties during cooking

• Brown Sugar:

  • Made by adding molasses back to fully refined sugar
  • Turbinado sugar is less refined and retains more molasses flavor

• Invert Sugar:

  • Created by splitting sucrose into fructose and dextrose
  • Sweeter than regular sugar and helps prevent crystallization

• Glucose Syrups:

  • Sourced from hydrolyzed starch; widely used in confectionery
  • Commonly available in varying dextrose equivalence (DE) ratings

• Honey:

  • Contains a carbohydrate profile similar to invert sugar
  • Used primarily for flavor in confections

• Maple Syrup:

  • Produced from the sap of sugar maple trees
  • Flavor and color are influenced by several natural factors

Fats in Confectionery

• Cocoa Butter:

  • Natural fat from cocoa beans, expensive and has a narrow melting range

• Butter:

  • Adds flavor and texture, contains water-in-fat emulsion
  • Helps prevent bloom in chocolate when used thoughtfully

• Lauric Fats:

  • Tropical fats like coconut and palm kernel oil; often used in confections

Dairy Products

Fresh Dairy Products

• Offers superior flavor but requires refrigeration and is more expensive
• Important for making ganache

Cultured Dairy Products

• Generally, have little use in confectionary due to curdling when heated

Processed Dairy Products

• Include items like evaporated and sweetened condensed milk; lower in water content
• Well-suited for cooking, particularly in sugar confections

Flavourings and Color Agents

• Natural vs. Artificial Flavors: Artisan confectioners typically avoid artificial flavors, except in specific instances such as hard candies.
• Organic acids can balance sweetness in recipes.

Color Agents

• Types of Colors:
  • Fat soluble (for chocolate)
  • Water soluble (for hard candy)

Importance of Water in Confections

• Free Water:
  • Chemically unbound water that limits shelf life
• Bound Water:
  • Chemically bound to sugar, does not limit shelf life
• Water plays a crucial role as solvent for sugars and in reactions like Maillard browning.
• Total water affects firmness and is managed through cooking to concentrate sugar.