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.