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US 2026/0144272 A1Published application
Methods of processing chocolate covered frozen food products
AssigneeMars, Incorporated
InventorTaz MURRAY
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of applying thin layers of a molten chocolate onto a frozen food product, in some instances fruit, that is at temperatures below 0° C. in such a way that prevents discoloration and brittleness of the applied chocolate.
Claims18
A process of applying untempered chocolate onto pieces of a frozen food product to form at least one thin layer of chocolate coating completely enrobing each piece of the frozen food product and prevent condensation from forming on the chocolate coating, the process comprising:
- obtaining pieces of the frozen food product;
- obtaining an untempered chocolate containing cocoa butter and no coconut oil or butter;
- applying a layer of the untempered chocolate by conveying pieces of the frozen food product along an enrobing belt under a curtain of the untempered chocolate, wherein the untempered chocolate is maintained at a temperature between about 37.8° C. and about 43.3° C. and the enrobing belt travels at a speed of between about 5 m/m and about 15 m/m, to envelop each piece of the frozen food product in a chocolate coating thereby creating pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product;
- conveying the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product along a vibrating perforated belt having pressurized air passing up through the belt to remove all the chocolate coating in excess of a thin layer between about 1 mm and about 2 mm thick;
- rapidly cooling the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product to a temperature below 1.7° C.;
- flash freezing the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product to a temperature below −18° C.;
- and
- rapidly packaging the flash frozen pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product at a temperature between about 0° C. and about 10° C. to prevent condensation from forming on each piece of the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food.
5 more elements
8-12. (canceled)
A process of applying untempered chocolate onto pieces of frozen raspberries to form thin layers of chocolate coating completely enrobing each piece of the frozen raspberries and prevent condensation from forming on the chocolate coating, the process comprising:
- applying a first layer of white chocolate by conveying pieces of the frozen raspberries along an enrobing belt under a curtain of white chocolate, wherein the white chocolate comprises an untempered white chocolate containing cocoa butter and no coconut oil or butter, and wherein the white chocolate is maintained at a temperature between about 37.8° C. and about 43.3° C. and the enrobing belt travels at a speed of between about 5 m/m and about 10 m/m, to envelop each piece of the frozen raspberries in a white chocolate coating, thereby creating pieces of frozen raspberries completely enrobed in the white chocolate coating;
- conveying the pieces of frozen raspberries completely enrobed in the white chocolate coating along a vibrating perforated belt having pressurized air passing up through the belt to remove all the white chocolate coating in excess of a thin layer between about 1 mm and about 2 mm thick;
- rapidly cooling the pieces of frozen raspberries completely enrobed in the white chocolate coating to a temperature between about 1.7° C. and about 7.2° C., by conveying the pieces of frozen raspberries completely enrobed in the white chocolate coating along a cooling belt, traveling at a speed between about 6 m/m and about 10 m/m, to harden the white chocolate coating along a bottom surface of each frozen raspberry completely enrobed in the white chocolate coating;
- applying a second layer of second chocolate by conveying the pieces of frozen raspberries completely enrobed in the white chocolate coating along a second enrobing belt under a curtain of the second chocolate, wherein the second chocolate comprises an untempered chocolate containing cocoa butter and no coconut oil or butter, and wherein the second chocolate is maintained at a temperature between 37.8° C. and 43.3° C. and the second enrobing belt travels at a speed between about 6 m/m and about 10 m/m to envelop each piece of the frozen raspberries completely enrobed in the white chocolate coating in a second chocolate coating thereby creating pieces of frozen raspberries each completely enrobed in two layers of chocolate coatings;
- flash cooling the pieces of frozen raspberries each completely enrobed in two layers of chocolate coatings to a temperature below 1.7° C., by conveying the frozen raspberry each completely enrobed in two layers of chocolate coatings along a second cooling belt, traveling at a speed between about 6 m/m and about 10 m/m;
- flash freezing the pieces of frozen raspberries each completely enrobed in two layers of chocolate coatings to a temperature below −18° C. in an Individual Quick Frozen unit;
- and
- rapidly packaging the flash frozen pieces of frozen raspberries each completely enrobed in two layers of chocolate coatings at a temperature between about 0° C. and about 10° C. to prevent condensation from forming on the pieces of frozen raspberries each completely enrobed in two layers of chocolate coatings.
5 more elements
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.