Process for continuously conching chocolate mass

Abstract

In the continuous conching of chocolate mass in a conche (10) it is important to ensure essentially constant contents of the conche (10). For this purpose, the infeed of starting material and/or the discharge of the conched chocolate mass is monitored, namely measured, especially by means of weighing. In response to the measurement results, the infeed or the discharge is controlled, especially by means of altering the conveying capacity of a compulsory conveyor (screw conveyor 21) for discharging the conched mass. The conched chocolate mass is dry, i.e. it contains neither lecithin nor cocoa butter. Lecithin is added in the region of the screw conveyor (21) which is followed by a mixing device (22).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.