# US 4,440,797 A · Method for continuous production of chocolate mass > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 4,440,797 A - Document ID: US4440797A - Status: Granted - Kind: A - Application number: 06/259,107 - Filed: 1981-04-30 - Granted: 1984-04-03 - Earliest claimed: 1979-12-29 - Assignees: Veb Kombinat Nagema - Inventors: Klaus Berkes; Helmut Forster; Wolfgang Huth; Gunter Ritschel; Georg Schebiella; Norbert Scholz; Frank-Gerhard Thomas - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US4440797A ## CPC - A23G 1/12: Chocolate-refining mills, i.e. roll refiners - A23G 1/04: Apparatus specially adapted for manufacture or treatment of cocoa or cocoa products (machines for roasting cocoa A23N12/00) - B01F 23/233: using driven stirrers with completely immersed stirring elements - B01F 27/0723: {oblique with respect to the rotating axis} - B01F 27/0724: {directly mounted on the rotating axis} - B01F 27/2123: Shafts with both stirring means and feeding or discharging means - B01F 27/50: Pipe mixers, i.e. mixers wherein the materials to be mixed flow continuously through pipes, e.g. column mixers - B01F 27/902: cooperating with intermeshing elements fixed on the receptacle walls - A23G: COCOA; COCOA PRODUCTS, e.g. CHOCOLATE; SUBSTITUTES FOR COCOA OR COCOA PRODUCTS; CONFECTIONERY; CHEWING GUM; ICE-CREAM; PREPARATION THEREOF - B01F: MIXING, e.g. DISSOLVING, EMULSIFYING OR DISPERSING (mixing paints B44D3/06) ## Abstract A method of continuous production of refined chocolate mass from a non-refined cocoa mass composed of a mixture of components reduced in size to a fineness required for the final mass but still containing undesired aromatic substances and moisture and being processed into a low fat, friable or pulverized chocolate mass, is mixed in a plasticator with a preheated air stream which is admitted in the same feeding direction, simultaneously externally heated for a time interval between 5 and 8 minutes while being intensively mixed by shearing stresses until the mass becomes plasticized; thereupon the fluidity of the mass is increased by an emulsifier, then the entrained gas is separated from the mass, the latter is weighed and supplemented according to a final recipe by additional fat content, and the final mass is collected in a container and subjected to an additional homogenizing treatment and in a cooled condition is forwarded for the final processing. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for the continuous production of a refined chocolate mass, comprising the stepssof preparing a non-refined cocoa mass composed of a mixture of conventional components such as a mixture of cocoa mass with sugar or cocoa mass mixed with sugar, milk powder and cocoa butter; then producing from the non-refined cocoa mass a non-refined chocolate mass by reducing in size the components of the cocoa mass to a fineness required for the refined chocolate mass but still containing undesired aromatic substances, the non-refined chocolate mass being low in fat (in comparison to the refined chocolate mass) and having a friable or pulverized structure; then moving the non-refined chocolate mass in a feeding direction while internally mixing the same with a preheated gas stream flowing in the same feeding direction to remove moisture and undesired volatile components therefrom and to assist in advancing the mass in the feeding direction; simultaneously conching the mass by subjecting it to intensive mechanical mixing and shearing stresses until the mass is plasticized; separating gas from the plasticized mass; increasing liquidity of the mass by adding an emulsifier; thereafter adding to the liquefied mass doses of fat substances to adjust the fat content of the mass to that required in the refined chocolate mass; then homogenizing the completed mass by repeating the intensive conching or mechanical mixing and shearing treatment without the use of a gas stream while cooling the homogenized mass to a lower temperature and discharging the resulting refined chocolate mass for final processing. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the homogenized mass is cooled to a temperature between 313.degree. K. and 333.degree. K. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said emulsifier constitutes 0.1% of lecithin. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) A method as defined in claim 3, wherein the low fat, friable or pulverized chocolate mass for a milk chocolate includes between 27% and 29% of fat prior to its refining. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) A method as defined in claim 3, wherein said low fat, friable or pulverized chocolate mass for dark chocolate udes between 23% and 27% of fat prior to its refining. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the temperature of the chocolate mass during its plastification is increased to a range between 338.degree. K. and 348.degree. K. to develop aroma and fine structure of the final mass for milk chocolate. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the temperature of chocolate mass during its plastification is increased to the range between 358.degree. K. and 368.degree. K. in order to develop aroma and fine structure of the final chocolate mass for dark chocolate. ### Claim 8 (depends on 3) A method as defined in claim 3, wherein the admitted gas is air amounting to from 0.1 to 0.3 cubic meters per kilogram of chocolate mass. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) A method as defined in claim 8, wherein for the production of milk chocolate mass the gas stream is preheated to the range between 313.degree. K. and 328.degree. K. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) A method as defined in claim 8, wherein for the production of dark chocolate masses said air stream is preheated to a temperature between 343.degree. K. and 358.degree. K. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said emulsifier is raw lecithin added to the plastified chocolate mass in an amount corresponding to 0.2% of the refined output clocolate mass in the case of milk chocolate and to 0.15% of the output refined chocolate mass in the case of dark chocolate. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the plastification of the non-refined chocolate mass takes place in the range of shearing gradients between 300 s.sup.-1 and 1500 s.sup.-1 and the homogenization in the range of shearing gradients between 200 s.sup.-1 and 1000 s.sup.-1. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) A method as defined in claim 12, wherein the stepts of plastification and homogenization take place in layers having a thickness between 8 and 15 mm.