Chocolate panning - Can you pan soft confections? ?

[ChefJoshBanc]

Hi all 

 

I'm new to the community and still a little unsure of how it all works, if I have posted this question in the wrong section I do apologize. 

 

I have recently started working with chocolate and the chocolate pannining process (with a homemade panning machine) I have made panned hazelnuts with amazing success and now I'm trying to push the boundaries a bit.

 

I would like to achieve a panned marshmallow (rough size about 2cm diameter). I have attempted on 2 occasions and both failed. The first was a homemade marshmallow that was fairly soft and this flexibility caused the end product to come out horribly, it was a bumpy boulder like texture. The second attempt involved me buying mini marshmallows from the shops to try see if the firmer more consistent shape would help but unfortunately it did not help. The second one was definitely better but still not the uniformly chocolate covered marshmallow I was after. 

 

Can anyone assist me and let me know what I am doing wrong or if it is at all possible to pan marshmallows and if so how? 

 

I am also very curious what products you can pan and what products you cannot pan? 

 

Thank you in advance 

Josh

[Kerry Beal]

Really nice round things work best as you've noticed with the hazelnuts - as soon as you throw in some curves it becomes more complicated. So cashews are a major challenge given their shape, coffee beans have one flat side - so they want to stick together. Marshmallows have a bunch of flat sides so they want to stick together. 

 

Nice round cereal pans well, more uniformly shaped nuts - search the grocery store for round things!

 

A few things we've played with before - here.

 

[ChefJoshBanc]

Thank you so much for the information, I will definitely take this into consideration when searching and developing new panned products. 

[teonzo]

You can try piping marshmallows in demi-sphere molds, trying to get a sphere. But this won't solve the problems about sticking and flattening (they are soft, so while rotating they hit each other and flatten).

 

 

 

Teo