Though there are many recipes for chocolate, all methods require delicately blending and tempering fats and powders throughout the process. Whether you are blending chocolate liquor with milk, sugar and cocoa butter for a milk chocolate or simply mixing cocoa powder into an oil, careful temperature control and thorough mixing is required.
Making the Chocolate: Delicate Blending & Tempering
Chocolate begins with the Cocoa Butter. The cocoa butter can be blended with cocoa powders and sugars or with other liquids like chocolate liquor, milk and lecithin for various recipes. The delicate blending and tempering is what develops the flavors, aromas and texture for the finished product.
Late Stage Differentiation with Inclusions
The Infini-MixerTM is ideal for blending inclusions into the finished chocolate. Inclusions can be various nuts, “crispies”, coconut, sea salt or just about anything. Many manufacturers will use a batching vessel to mix the inclusions into the chocolate. When the recipe changes to a different inclusion, the batching vessel and all of the transfer piping and equipment must be cleaned.
Instead, install the Infini-MixerTM at the end of the process, just prior to the depositor. Meter the chocolate into the liquid port on the feed zone while using a gravimetric solids feeders to meter the inclusions directly into the solids port. While delicately blending the solids the jacketed housing and temperature controlled rotor is tempering the product.
When production calls for a new inclusion, simply clean the Infini-MixerTM and then you are on to the next product. This saves time in changeovers and the cost in cleaning. The Infini-MixerTM with the optional slide base makes it easy to disassemble to clean by hand or to inspect.
