Halloween is literally knocking at the door… what better occasion to talk about candies? But first, we can’t help but going with the traditional question… Trick or Treat? Which in the temperature control sector of Tempco can be figured out like this:
- Treat: it is when optimal thermal management is guaranteed, where temperatures are constantly maintained within the established parameters, ensuring maximum efficiency of the production processes and the desired comfort, without surprises or unexpected changes that make us sweat cold… From this point of view, the ‘treat’ is a sweet, stable and smooth thermal regulation, without fluctuations or surprises that could compromise productivity or quality.
- Trick: it’s when unexpected deviations in thermal regulation occur, which lead to changes or inefficiencies, even process interruptions… and then it gets spooky and creepy. ‘Trick’ can therefore mean a heat peak or a sudden unwanted process cooling, sensors that give readings out of range or energy recovery systems that do not turn-on right on time, putting the stability of the production process at risk.
The goal is therefore always to eliminate any ’trick’ and guarantee a sweet, smooth and constant thermal management.
But let’s get to candies! Speaking of candies and sweets, we have often talked in the past about chocolate production, where our thermoregulation and cooling equipment is often used. A very same thing happens in the production of candies. In fact, when producing candies, or even gummy sweets, the production process involves as well cooling tasks or requires to be thermoregulated.
How are candies made? Essentially, there is a sugar die that gets formed, the candy is made using a mold and the candy enters a thermal treatment system where it usually gets cooled. Cooling is necessary to get rid of moisture within the sugar in order to obtain a very glossy look of the candy achieving an attractive aesthetic appearance.
Following the cooling step, there is a post-heating process aimed at ensuring a controlled temperature before packaging. It’s interesting how every food production needs anyway a control of temperature, regardless of whether it is pasteurization or cooling, or heating. In this case this is not related to a particular process aimed at maintaining organoleptic characteristics but it’s related to a purely aesthetic factor and to get rid of the excess of humidity which would probably also change the taste of the candy.
In addition, in this kind of productions there are also processes involved for the washing of production lines that then require a post-heating in order to dry the overall plant and get it ready for a brand new production.