Method and apparatus for making centre-filled shaped food products

An apparatus for making a food product, the product having a solid outer shell with top, bottom and side walls comprising:

• a support frame holding at least one matrix that goes through the support frame and has opposed openings;
• two punches disposed respectively on each side of the matrix and facing the openings, the punches having a cross section that corresponds to the cross section of the openings, and being movable along a common axis that corresponds to the longitudinal axis of the matrix, the matrix and the pair of punches defining respectively the side and the end walls of a mould;
• filling means for filling the mould with a predetermined quantity of food product in a liquid or semi-solid form;
• actuating means for moving the punches and exerting a longitudinal pressure onto the punches when the mould is filled with food product and closed, so that the product contained in the mould is compressed;
• and
• ejecting means for ejecting a moulded food product out of the mould when the mould is in the open position.

A food product made with an apparatus comprising

• a support frame holding at least one matrix that goes through the support frame and has opposed openings;
• two punches disposed respectively on each side of the matrix and facing the openings, the punches having a cross section that corresponds to the cross section of the openings, and being movable along a common axis that corresponds to the longitudinal axis of the matrix, the matrix and the pair of punches defining respectively the side and the end walls of a mould;
• filling means for filling the mould with a predetermined quantity of food product in a liquid or semi-solid form;
• actuating means for moving the punches and exerting a longitudinal pressure onto the punches when the mould is filled with food product and closed, so that the product contained in the mould is compressed;
• and
• ejecting means for ejecting a moulded food product out of the mould when the mould is in the open position comprising a solid outer shell made out of one product, the outer shell comprising at least top and bottom walls with embossings.

A process for making a food product comprising the steps of, in order:

• providing an apparatus comprising a support frame holding at least one matrix that goes through the support frame and has opposed openings, two punches disposed respectively on each side of the matrix and facing the openings, the punches having a cross section that corresponds to the cross section of the openings, and being movable along a common axis that corresponds to the longitudinal axis of the matrix, the matrix and the pair of punches defining respectively the side and the end walls of a mould, filling means for filling the mould with a predetermined quantity of food product in a liquid or semi-solid form, actuating means for moving the punches and exerting a longitudinal pressure onto the punches when the mould is filled with food product and closed, so that the product contained in the mould is compressed, and ejecting means for ejecting a moulded food product out of the mould when the mould is in the open position;
• disposing a first drop of molten food product in an open chilled mould;
• moving downward a lower plunger of the mould to create a shell of the food product;
• moving downward the upper plunger so as to close the mould and maintain a compression force to create embossings at the top and bottom sides of the food product thus created;
• and
• moving the pair of upper and lower plungers outside of the matrix plane, and eject the food product.

An apparatus for making a food product comprising:

• a support frame holding at least one matrix and has opposed openings;
• two punches located on each side of the matrix and facing the openings, the punches having a cross section that corresponds to the cross section of the openings, and being movable along a common axis that corresponds to the longitudinal axis of the matrix, the matrix and the pair of punches defining the side and the end walls of a mould;
• a filler for filling the mould with a predetermined quantity of food product in a liquid or semi-solid form;
• an actuator for moving the punches and exerting a longitudinal pressure onto the punches with the mould is filled with food product and closed, so that the product contained into the mould is compressed;
• and
• an ejector for ejecting a moulded food product out of the mould.