Economics and management in the sphere of ict department: management and marketing

Sucrose

J.M. Cooper, in Optimising Sweet Taste in Foods, 2006

7.5.2 Confectionery

In confectionery products sugar provides not only the desired sweetness to many products but also a wide range of functional properties that deliver the characteristic texture, flavour and colour associated with many products.
In chocolate, sugar is generally assumed to be an inert ingredient with regard to the subtleties of flavour, contributing only sweetness. However, in dark chocolate, sugar is added for flavour purposes to offset the bitterness of cocoa solids and can also have an effect on processing techniques. The caramelisation and Maillard reactions (see Section 7.4.3) of sugar in milk chocolate, particularly crumb-based chocolates has a great influence on the finished flavour. Crumb based chocolate, most common in the UK, is based on adding sugar to milk followed by evaporation to give a condensed milk. The condensed milk is added to cocoa mass and then vacuum dried to give a powder referred to as crumb. Flavour can also be generated during the conching (mixing) process where heat and vacuum are applied to the chocolate mass to remove undesirable flavours and develop more pleasant ones.
The refining process in chocolate manufacture produces the very fine particles associated with chocolate texture. Sugar is co-milled (refined) with the other components of chocolate – cocoa mass, fats, proteins, etc. Sugar usually exists in a crystalline form and when milled will typically behave in a brittle manner when subject to mechanical stress (milling). In roll refining, sugar crystals pass very quickly into high pressure areas produced by the fine tolerances on the rollers. Under these conditions sugar behaves a bit like sheet metal – it forms flat sheets of amorphous sugar that has a high surface area and is able to absorb large quantities of the different flavour compounds. During roller refining of chocolate it has been estimated that 30–90% of the sugar becomes amorphous (Niediek, 1981). The subsequent re-crystallisation of the sugar crystals disperses the flavour throughout the chocolate mass. Chocolate made with pre-milled sugar to the correct particle size does not have the same flavour characteristics as chocolate made where the sugar is milled in situ.
In other confectionery products sugar contributes to texture and structure of traditional products. In high boil sweets (candies) sugar contributes to the boiling point elevation allowing a mixture to be boiled at higher temperatures. Other sugars historically invert sugar derived from in situ inversion using organic acids (e.g. tartaric or citric acids) but more recently glucose syrups are mixed with sugar to give a mass that does not crystallise. These other sugars known as sugar ‘doctors’ give rise to non-crystallising, super-cooled liquids or glasses typical of high boil sweets. Acids, colours and flavours are added to the hot pass prior to cooling to give the desired product attributes. In fudges, sugar crystallisation is positively encouraged to provide the characteristic short eating texture of these products. In gums and jellies, sugar contributes to the high viscosity required for moulding and setting of the gelling agents. The high solubility of sugar also contributes to the required shelf life of confectionery products and its ready solubility contributes to the flavour release and mouth feel of these products.