Chocolate Panning, process and equipment

Greetings,
I'm investigating the art/science of chocolate panning for nuts, primarily hazelnuts and almonds. This would be for a small side business to our hazelnut farm here in Oregon. I'm looking at providing raw, roasted and chocolate coated nuts to start with. Raw and roasted I have under control, but chocolate panning and equipment is new except for what I've been reading. Still, looking at batch sizes of say 10 to 20 pounds of nuts, what type/brand of coating pan might be a good start? The Selmi certainly looks like a great tool but really high end and costly. Is there any good source for used equipment?

Regarding the process, what is the best approach for classes, training or literature? What are some of the best bulk chocolates to purchase, both milk and dark?

Thanks,
Bob

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Permalink Reply by Benoît on January 20, 2011 at 5:19pm

Dear Kerry,

Thank you so much for your advise. I will try that tomorrow and will keep you up to date.

Benoit

PS: have you got some advises to get the shine on the product without chemical stuff?

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Permalink Reply by Kerry on January 20, 2011 at 7:44pm

To get the shine without chemicals - you need to let the product sit overnight then put back in the pan - 48º C air is blown in with pan rotating. You are listening for quiet - once it gets quiet you pick a piece up and see if it is squishable (ie the chocolate becomes plastic). Once you reach this point you start adding cold air again (13-15º C) for about an hour until the product shines.

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Permalink Reply by Lana on January 21, 2011 at 12:57am

Hey Kerry, is it possible to do as you say for shine in the KitchenAid attachment? Or do you need to use a ridged pan as you specified in a previous post?

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Permalink Reply by Kerry on January 21, 2011 at 7:25am

You can ridge your pan by taping plastic tubing in it.

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Permalink Reply by Dana Rebarchick on March 11, 2011 at 9:17am

I am fairly new at this and trying to figure the process out. When you say plastic tubing can you please tell me a little more about what this means? I assume it is something I can get at a hardware store?

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Permalink Reply by Kerry on March 11, 2011 at 12:28pm

It would be the plastic tubing that you might get at a make your own wine place - used for decanting the wine into bottles. You want something considered food grade.

Permalink Reply by Mike on November 26, 2012 at 10:34am

Wondering if you can offer some advice---I just started playing around with panning, and I am not able to get the coated centers (coffee beans, in my case) to polish. I'm using the kitchen aid attachment, and each half has two metal ribs welded in---do i need to add more for polishing or is that what those are for? I'm also trying to avoid any coatings for polishing, which i understand is possible, though I don't believe it yet :)

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Permalink Reply by Andal Balu on January 20, 2011 at 11:23pm

We at cocoatown.com are working on a panning attachment for the small melangers to be used by scale chocolatiers. We are testing the attachment and will send you more information soon.

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Permalink Reply by Kerry on January 21, 2011 at 7:24am

Andal - that's exciting news. Will it have heating and cooling air or just turn?

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Permalink Reply by Hilal ÇAKMAK on February 24, 2011 at 3:50am

Hello,

we are producer hazelnut and chocolate process equipment.

The Laboratory Type Pres Using For Obtaining Hazelnut Oil.

Hazelnut/cocoa bean cutting unit

http://innovas.com.tr/english/urunler/giyotin/Cutting_Unit.pdf

chocolate cooling system

Scraped surface heat exchanger

http://innovas.com.tr/english/index.htm

The Laboratory Type Chopping Machine For Agricultural Producs Nuts Etc

Hzelnut cutting andchopping units with sieving

etc...

http://innovas.com.tr

info@innovas.com.tr

thanks in advance

Hilal Çakmak

sales engineer

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Permalink Reply by steve on March 10, 2013 at 11:24pm

hola , I am looking some info were to buy ,products for panning ,,,, like what the name of the product , and puts on the shine ,any info would be great , thanks steve