Confection shelf-life, and managing production

[Altay.Oro]

On 5/31/2024 at 5:19 AM, ChristianD said:

I would like to take this opportunity to refer you to the test version of my ganache calculator, which you can find at http://ganache.guru/Test_EN2.php. It offers a range of calculation options, provides recommendations and is able to perform a variety of parameters (including consistency and shelf life) based on the ingredients. This may help balancing recipes for truffles. One of the biggest advantages is that most of the common ingredients (currently about 1500) are already stored here and do not have to be entered manually. If certain ingredients are still missing, you are welcome to send them to me. For any questions and/or requests, please do not hesitate to get in touch. If you have any suggestions regarding additional functionality or if you are missing functions, please feel free to let me know. I will gladly try to implement them.

 

Really great work 👍

Thanks for sharing ...

 

Just as an enthusiast, I also have a simple excel table that I created for my own local ingredients. When involving the water binding capacity of cocoa powder, I take it as 0.25 purely as a guess, meaning that 10 grams of cocoa powder binds 2.5 grams of water ... totally made-up value. What would your recommendation be for this value? 

Edited June 1 by Altay.Oro (log)

[ChristianD]

@Kerry Beal @Jim D.
There is a formula for calculating the maximum water content in a boiling sugar solution.
This is 5.06+EXP(16.54-(0.13* boiling temperature )
This is already integrated in my calculator (although at the moment it has no influence on the amount of water displayed). So with an initial quantity of 1000g sugar and 500g water at a boiling point of solution of 150 degrees Celsius, the maximum water content is 5.11%. This means that only a little more than 25g of the original amount of water would be left.
Of course, the calculation becomes more difficult if additional liquid (e.g. in the form of cream) is added while the mass is still above the boiling point of water.
It should also be noted with sugar solutions that the quantity in ml differs significantly from the quantity in grams, as sugar has a relatively high density.

[Rajala]

17 hours ago, ChristianD said:

@Rajala  

Thank you very much for your feedback. I have no problem at all with constructive criticism, as long as it is formulated objectively. Appropriate feedback is essential in order to point out possible weaknesses.

According to current plans, there will be 3 variants (Basic, Standard and Premium). The Basic version will remain free of charge. Small monthly fees should be charged for the Standard and Premium versions. Personalised support and some other features will be reserved for the Standard and Premium versions.

The judge the consistency is based on the fat and other dry ingredients (protein and cocoa solids, etc.) and compares these to the liquid ingredients (water, alcohol, oils). The solid fat content (SFC) at 20°C is also included in the calculation. This is based on an analysis of the triglyceride (TAG for short) and also takes into account (as far as possible) the eutetic behavior of fat mixtures. The sugars are not yet included in the calculation, although I am of course aware that long-chain sugar molecules in particular (e.g. in glucose syrup) do have an influence on the consistency.

Water activity can be estimated by different theoretical and empirical models. I started with the Grover Equation and the Norrish Eqaution. However, I was not really satisfied with the results. After studying various scientific papers, I started to develop my own mathematical model. This is based on the realization that mainly the water content and the content of humectants (i.e. substances that are able to chemically bind water molecules) play a significant role in the aw value. These are mainly salts, sugars and sugar alcohols. For all of these substances, I have determined the binding capacity of water molecules from scientific studies and determined a mathematical model for calculating the influence on the aw value in each case. It should be noted that the influence is generally not linear but curvilinear. The other solids content (proteins etc.) is also included in the calculation. Fats are not taken into account here because, as far as I know, they have virtually no influence on the aw value. Theoretically, the sorption isotherm should also be included in the calculation. However, this can hardly be calculated mathematically for a complex system such as a ganache. I have repeatedly compared the results obtained with real results. Of course, there were certain deviations. However, at least with classic ganache recipes, these were well below 10%. Therefore, some examples with significant deviations from the values you measured would be very helpful.

 

Thanks for your detailed reply! Super interesting. I always want to learn more about these things, but obviously haven't reached your level just yet.

 

I'll input some more of my ganache recipes and tell you the difference I get. But now I'm going to try to make my own glucose syrup. Funny Sunday experiment!

[Kerry Beal]

3 minutes ago, Rajala said:

 

Thanks for your detailed reply! Super interesting. I always want to learn more about these things, but obviously haven't reached your level just yet.

 

I'll input some more of my ganache recipes and tell you the difference I get. But now I'm going to try to make my own glucose syrup. Funny Sunday experiment!

I will never reach that level!

 

Curious to know what you will use to hydrolyse the solution and what determines when you stop it?

[Rajala]

Just now, Kerry Beal said:

Curious to know what you will use to hydrolyse the solution and what determines when you stop it?

 

I don't know when to stop. Haha.

 

It's basically just for fun and show how one can make it. The hardware (one of those magnetic stirrers) I have is really not made for fluids with high viscosity so I can only have like 5% starch in the mixture. I'm using alpha-amylase and glucoamylase. I think glucose syrup is one of those things that you're better off buying from a large scale manufacturer.

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, Rajala said:

 

I don't know when to stop. Haha.

 

It's basically just for fun and show how one can make it. The hardware (one of those magnetic stirrers) I have is really not made for fluids with high viscosity so I can only have like 5% starch in the mixture. I'm using alpha-amylase and glucoamylase. I think glucose syrup is one of those things that you're better off buying from a large scale manufacturer.

But I do understand the need to make it just once to prove it can be done!

 

Why don't you make the really high viscosity solution, bung it in the sous vide at 80 degrees for the time required - taking it out and squeezing once in a while? 

 

Edited June 2 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Rajala]

3 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

But I do understand the need to make it just once to prove it can be done!

 

Why don't you make the really high viscosity solution, bung it in the sous vide at 80 degrees for the time required - taking it out and squeezing once in a while? 

 

 

I guess I could try that, if I get a sous vide. Maybe next thing to invest in. Maybe one can test it with a Thermomix? That's quite powerful.

[Kerry Beal]

4 hours ago, Rajala said:

 

I guess I could try that, if I get a sous vide. Maybe next thing to invest in. Maybe one can test it with a Thermomix? That's quite powerful.

It would heat and stir!