Chocolate Panning, process and equipment

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Permalink Reply by Mark Heim on March 5, 2010 at 8:25pm

The PMCA offers a nice panning course, covers hard, soft, and chocolate panning. Think too of a pan you can also hot pan with. Similar pan but with gas burner under to caramelize sugar around the nuts. Add a variety of seasonings and you can offer a nice seasonal variety. But then you can also season the chocolate. For chocolate, think of a cool/dry air source. Portable coolers work nice but overall warm the room so not good for continuous use. Just blowing ambient air will work if cool/dry enough, but you lose some control, especially if you're looking to add color for marbling or speckling.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

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Permalink Reply by Kerry on March 6, 2010 at 11:27pm

I second the PMCA/NCA panning course. It was an excellent course.

You've got to love the Selmi - a little dear in price - but it heats and cools which allows you to polish the product without any additional polishing products being added.

E-bay often has pans - I bought a Stokes pan several years ago. I noticed a group of 3 small pans that closed yesterday for about $2100.

There are a couple of companies that sell used equipment - Union Machinary being one that comes to mind.

The chocolate is probably one of those things you are going to have to experiment with to decide what you like with your product. I've been happy lately with the Belgian Belcolade milk and dark.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Aman on March 7, 2010 at 9:03pm

Thanks for the great replies. The coarse seems to be a great way to get started. I do like the idea of a headed pan for other flavorings. However, I might look at one of the off the shelf nut roasters which are propane fired. This way I can run the chocolate in one room where the ambient can be better controlled and do the roasting and flavoring in another room where the heat isn't as much of a problem.

I did actually bid on the 3 pans that were on eBay but I had to be away from my computer when the bidding closed and I got outbid in the end. Would this type of pan work for chocolate? One had ridges and the other two were smooth inside. Might like to know if another deal like this come up.

Also, is there a need to coat the chocolate after it has been panned? Is this a standard process or only used with certain types of chocolates?

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Bob

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Permalink Reply by Kerry on March 7, 2010 at 10:02pm

Yup, those pans would have worked fine. You use the smooth pan for the coating, then one of the ridged pans for polishing. Of course you can tape tubing inside your smooth pan, to make it ridged for polishing.

By 'coat the chocolate after panning' I assume you are asking if you need products such as polish and sealers? The whole process can be accomplished without these things.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Aman on March 8, 2010 at 12:05pm

Kerry,

Thanks for the reply and yes, that answered my questions. I also took a look at the Union Machinery web site for used equipment. Lots of items to choose from. What might be a good size to start with for batch sizes of 15 - 20 pounds?

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Permalink Reply by Kerry on March 10, 2010 at 11:04pm

Something around 20 inches is all I have experience with. You don't want to overfill the pan initially, because as you add the chocolate the amount of product 'grows'. It doesn't take too long to coat a batch, then it sits overnight anyway before polishing the next day.

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Permalink Reply by Glenn Knowles on January 17, 2011 at 3:55pm

Do you have any recommended suppliers for the coatings (glaze, food shellac, etc.)?

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Permalink Reply by Sebastian on January 17, 2011 at 5:06pm

Centerchem is a great resource.  Dave Jordan's your go-to guy with them.

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Permalink Reply by Glenn Knowles on January 17, 2011 at 8:44pm

Thank you very much. I'll give Dave a call.

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Permalink Reply by Andy Ciordia on January 14, 2011 at 9:11am

Hey Bob, how'd your education, equipment procurement, and first steps go?  We're looking into panning but probably not on the scale you are.

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Permalink Reply by Benoît on January 20, 2011 at 1:05pm

Hello

I have just started experiments on my new coating pan. Is there anyone out there that could help me?

 

I put my hazelnuts into the pan, then pour the tempered chocolate...all began to mix...and a few minutes later, everything began to stick...and I got, a big "ball' of choco-hazelnuts"...horrifying...what is the problem do you think? How to avoid that? Is it a matter of spinning speed? of amount of material in the pan?

 

Thank you

 

Benoit

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Permalink Reply by Kerry on January 20, 2011 at 4:35pm

You need to add the chocolate slowly (and not tempered).  The product (ie hazelnuts) need to be cooled in some way while you add the layers of chocolate.  So either some dry ice, or an air conditioner blowing cold air into the pan.

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