Tailoring alcoholic fillings for praline production with one-shot depositors

Effect of Alcohol in Starch‐Thickened Fillings on the Storage Stability of Dark Chocolate Pralines

“…Effects on water activity were less pronounced because of the much lower variation of the moisture content of the fillings, and because of the compensation effect of sucrose addition (see Table 1). The incorporation of appropriate amounts of pregelatinized starch, which were calculated on the basis of our previous work [1], increased g a close to the target value of 4 PaÁs and increased density. The apparent viscosity of the chocolate mass used for closing the shell was 3.08 PaÁs at 30°C, and the density was 1.25 g/cm 3 .…”

“…Model fillings with 0, 10 or 15% (w/w) ethanol were prepared according to the formulation given in Table 1. The amount of starch necessary to achieve an apparent filling viscosity of g a = 4 PaÁs was calculated according to Böhme et al [1]. The ratio of sucrose to wine distillate was kept constant (1:4) to adjust water activity a W in the binary system of water from wine distillate and sugar to that of invert sugar syrup [1].…”

“…The amount of starch necessary to achieve an apparent filling viscosity of g a = 4 PaÁs was calculated according to Böhme et al [1]. The ratio of sucrose to wine distillate was kept constant (1:4) to adjust water activity a W in the binary system of water from wine distillate and sugar to that of invert sugar syrup [1]. In a beaker, sucrose and starch were dissolved in invert sugar syrup with a portable mixer (Krups GmbH, Offenbach/Main, Germany).…”

“…3). A temperature of 20°C is frequently used in storage stability evaluation [1,5,13] and represents ambient temperature in supermarket shelves, whereas the higher temperature was selected to accelerate product degradation [14,15]. Accumulation of ethanol in the shells was significant (P \ 0.05), and higher when the filling contained more ethanol because of a higher concentration gradient which accelerates diffusion [3].…”

“…Another approach could be the use of tailored fillings which show a temporarily increased viscosity during processing and a subsequent viscosity decrease during praline storage. Pregelatinized starch which thickens aqueous systems without the necessity of heating, and malt extract which contains starch-cleaving enzymes, have successfully been developed for that purpose [1]. The increased viscosity during manufacture may enable producers to deposit chocolate mass and fillings simultaneously into molds by co-extrusion using one-shot processing.…”