CHOCOLATE SHAKING TABLE.
The most important factor in obtaining a good appearance is the temperature, and chocolate is frequently passed through a machine (called a tempering machine) merely to give it the desired temperature. A suitable temperature for moulding, according to Zipperer, varies from 28° C. on a hot summer's day to 32° C. on a winter's day. As the melting point of cacao butter is about 32° C, it will be realized that the butter is super-cooled and is ready to crystallize on the slightest provocation. Each mould has to contain the same quantity of chocolate. Weighing by hand has been abandoned in favour of a machine which automatically deposits a definite weight, such as a quarter or half a pound, of the chocolate paste on each mould. The chocolate stands up like a lump of dough and has to be persuaded to lie down and fill the mould. This can be most effectively accomplished by banging the mould up and down on a table. In the factory the method used is to place the moulds on rocking tables which rise gradually and fall with a bump. The diagram will make clear how these vibrating tables are worked by means of ratchet wheels. Rocking tables are made which are silent in action, but the moulds jerkily dancing about on the table make a very lively clatter, such a noise as might be produced by a regiment of mad cavalry crossing a courtyard. During the shaking-up the chocolate fills every crevice of the mould, and any bubbles, which if left in would spoil the appearance of the chocolate, rise to the top. The chocolate then passes on to an endless band which conducts the mould through a chamber in which cold air is moving. As the chocolate cools, it solidifies and contracts so that it comes out of the mould clean and bright. In this way are produced the familiar sticks and cakes of chocolate. A similar method is used in producing "Croquettes" and the small tablets known as "Neapolitans." Other forms require more elaborate moulds; thus the chocolate eggs, which fill the confectioners' windows just before Easter, are generally hollow, unless they are very small, and are made in two halves by pressing chocolate in egg-shaped moulds and then uniting the two halves. Chocolate cremes, caramels, almonds and, in fact, fancy "chocolates" generally, are produced in quite a different manner. For these chocolats de fantaisie a rather liquid chocolate is required known as covering chocolate.
SPECIMEN OUTLINE RECIPE.
| Ingredients required for chocolate for covering cremes, etc.: | |
| Cacao nib or mass | 30 parts |
| Cacao butter | 20 parts |
| Sugar | 49¾ parts |
| Flavouring | ¼ parts |
| 100 parts | |
It is prepared in exactly the same way as ordinary eating chocolate, save that more butter is added to make it flow readily, so that in the melted condition it has about the same consistency as cream. The operations so far described are conducted by men, but the covering of cremes and the packing of the finished chocolates into boxes are performed by girls. Covering is light work requiring a delicate touch, and if, as is usual, it is done in bright airy rooms, is a pleasant occupation.
GIRLS COVERING, OR DIPPING, CREMES, ETC. (Messrs. Cadbury Bros., Bournville.)
The girl sits with a small bowl of warm liquid chocolate in front of her, and on one side the "centres" (cremes, caramels, ginger, nuts, etc.) ready for covering with chocolate. The chocolate must be at just the right temperature, which is 88 °F., or 31° C. She takes one of the "centres," say a vanilla creme, on her fork and dips it beneath the chocolate. When she draws it out, the white creme is completely covered in brown chocolate and, without touching it with her finger, she deftly places it on a piece of smooth paper. A little twirl of the fork or drawing a prong across the chocolate will give the characteristic marking on the top of the chocolate creme. The chocolate rapidly sets to a crisp film enveloping the soft creme. There are in use in many chocolate factories some very ingenious covering machines, invented in 1903, which, as they clothe cremes in a robe of chocolate, are known as "enrobers"; it is doubtful, however, if the chocolates so produced have even quite so good an appearance as when the covering is done by hand.