Chocolate conching

A process for producing chocolate by a procedure including a conching operation, the process comprising the steps of:

• passing ingredients for making chocolate, including chocolate refinings, into a conching apparatus having agitators and a motor controlled by a variable speed drive;
• moving the conching agitators into and through the ingredients, said moving step including moving the conching agitators at a conching agitator speed;
• conching said ingredients by continuing said moving step for a length of time until the ingredients produce a chocolate product;
• monitoring resistance to conching by the ingredients generally throughout the moving step in order to generally continuously detect resistance of the ingredients to conching;
• modulating said conching agitator speed to provide a variable conching agitator speed which substantially maintains a predetermined power input to the ingredients substantially throughout said conching step, said modulating step being substantially ongoing, the conching agitator speed being a function of the ingredients resistance monitored during said monitoring step such that the conching agitator speed increases as said ingredients resistance decreases and such that said conching agitator speed decreases as said ingredients resistance increases, whereby said predetermined power input is maintained substantially constant substantially throughout the conching step;
• controlling the passing step in response to the monitoring step whereby a finished chocolate product is provided having a fat percentage within a preselected range, said controlling of the passing step varying the fat content of the ingredients;
• and
• removing the finished chocolate product from the conching apparatus.

A process for forming chocolate by a procedure including a conching operation, the process comprising the steps of:

• passing ingredients for making chocolate into a conching apparatus having agitators which move in a manner to engage the ingredients, the ingredients making a refined chocolate intermediate including chocolate liquor, a sweetening agent and cocoa butter;
• moving the conching agitators to engage the ingredients with each other and with the conching agitators, sad moving step including moving the conching agitators at a conching agitator speed;
• conching said ingredients by continuing said moving step whereby the refined chocolate intermediate is transformed into a flowable chocolate;
• monitoring resistance to conching by the ingredients generally throughout the conching step in order to substantially continuously detect resistance of the ingredients to conching;
• modulating said conching agitator speed to provide a variable conching agitator speed which substantially maintains a predetermined power input to the ingredients substantially throughout said conching step, said modulating step being substantially ongoing, the conching agitator speed being a function of the ingredients resistance monitored during said monitoring step such that the conching agitator speed increases as said ingredients resistance decreases and such that said conching agitator speed decreases as said ingredients resistance increases;
• controlling the passing step, the conching step or both in response to the monitoring step, said controlling of the passing step includes incorporating cocoa butter in an amount which varies as a function of said monitoring step, said amount being adequate, but not substantially in excess of that needed, to impart a fat percentage within a preselected range to the flowable chocolate product, and said controlling of the conching step reduces the conching time by ceasing the conching step as soon as a preselected maximum viscosity characteristic is achieved;
• and
• removing the flowable chocolate product from the conching apparatus.

A process for producing chocolate by a procedure including a conching operation, the process comprising the steps of:

• passing ingredients for making chocolate, including chocolate refinings, into a conching apparatus having agitators and a motor controlled by a variable speed drive;
• moving the conching agitators into and through the ingredients, said moving step including moving the conching agitators at a conching agitator speed;
• conching said ingredients by continuing said moving step for a length of time until the ingredients produce a flowable chocolate product;
• monitoring resistance imparted to conching by the ingredients generally throughout the moving step in order to generally continuously detect resistance of the ingredients to conching;
• modulating said conching agitator speed to provide a variable conching agitator speed which substantially maintains a predetermined power input to the ingredients substantially throughout said conching step, said modulating step being substantially ongoing, the conching agitator speed being a function of the ingredients resistance monitored during said monitoring step such that the conching agitator speed increases as said ingredients resistance decreases and such that said conching agitator speed decreases as said ingredients resistance increases, whereby said predetermined power input is maintained substantially constant substantially throughout the conching step and the total time of the conching step is decreased;
• and
• removing the flowable chocolate product from the conching apparatus.

A system for producing chocolate from chocolate-making ingredients, comprising:

• conching means for receiving ingredients for making chocolate including chocolate refinings and transforming same into finished chocolate, said conching means including conching agitators and motor means and having variable speed drive means for moving said conching agitators into and through the ingredients at variable speeds;
• monitoring means associated with said variable speed drive means for detecting resistance to conching imparted by the ingredients within the conching apparatus, said monitoring means substantially continuously detecting an ingredients resistance to conching;
• controlling means associated with said variable speed drive means for receiving data from said monitoring means and for processing the data to control said motor means such that the variable speed imparted to the conching agitators decreases as the ingredients resistance to conching increases and such that the variable speed to conching increases as the ingredients resistance imparted to the conching agitators decreases, whereby power imparted to the ingredients by the conching agitators is substantially constant at least during dry conching by the conching means;
• and
• means responsive to said controlling means for automatically modifying the chocolate ingredients whereby the conching means forms a finished chocolate having preselected chocolate characteristics, including a preselected viscosity characteristic, before the finished chocolate leaves and conching means.

A system for producing chocolate from chocolate-making ingredients, comprising:

• conching means for receiving ingredients for making chocolate including chocolate refinings and transforming same into finished chocolate, said conching means including conching agitators and motor means and having variable speed drive means for moving said conching agitators into and through the ingredients at variable speeds;
• monitoring means associated with said variable speed drive means for detecting resistance imparted to conching imparted by the ingredients within the conching apparatus, said monitoring means substantially continuously detecting an ingredients resistance to conching;
• controlling means associated with said variable speed drive means for receiving data from said monitoring means and for processing the data to control said motor means such that the variable speed imparted to the conching agitators decreases as the ingredients resistance to conching increases and such that the variable speed imparted to the conching agitators increases as the ingredients resistance to conching decreases, whereby power imparted to the ingredients by the conching agitators is substantially constant during conching of the ingredients by the conching means;
• and
• means responsive to said controlling means for modifying the ingredients by adding cocoa butter and the like into the conching means during operation thereof, whereby the conching means forms a finished chocolate having a fat content within a preselected range.

A system for providing chocolate from chocolate-making ingredients, comprising:

• conching means for receiving ingredients for making chocolate including chocolate refinings and transforming same into finished chocolate, said conching means including conching agitators and motor means having variable speed drive means for moving said conching agitators into and through the ingredients at variable speeds;
• monitoring means associated with said variable speed drive means for detecting resistance to conching imparted by the ingredients within the conching apparatus, said monitoring means substantially continuously detecting an ingredients resistance to movement of the conching agitators;
• and
• controlling means associated with said variable speed drive means for receiving data from said monitoring means and for processing the data to control said motor means such that the variable speed imparted to the conching agitators decreases as the ingredients resistance to conching increases and such that the variable speed imparted to the conching agitators increases as the ingredients resistance to conching decreases, whereby the variable speed of the conching agitators is controlled by a changing consistency of the ingredients during conching and the power which imparts energy to the ingredients by the conching agitators is substantially constant at least during dry conching by the conching means.