UK-based Knighton Ingredients has unveiled a major capability breakthrough for its NovaCote chocolate powder range, enabling the creation of a finished sheen to products without requiring a conventional tempering process.
“In the use of chocolate in the manufacturing of confectionery, the process of tempering is often seen as a ‘dark art’. A process that is necessary to produce good quality chocolate confectionery that ensures chocolate has snap and sheen that consumers expect,” said Paul Cannings, business unit director for Knighton Ingredients, which is part of Knighton Foods, a subsidiary of Premier Foods, which includes a number of key British brands in its portfolio including Cadbury Cakes, Mr Kipling and Birds custard powder.
Knighton Ingredients has a production facility in North Yorkshire, as well as Staffordshire – which has been present within its community since 1911 when it was originally constructed by Cadbury’s. Today Knighton continues to build upon this chocolate history to deliver products to some of the UK’s most recognisable brands.
As the company explained, the NovaCote chocolate powder removes the standard tempering process, which is typically applied to ensure finished bars have ‘snap and sheen’ and do not suffer with blooming.
The process for developing the powder is said to involve taking liquid chocolate and putting it through a cryogenic process, which alters the crystalline structure of the chocolate.
According to Knighton, results have been confirmed by research undertaken by Campden BRI and PAS and demonstrated that, the changing of these crystal structures allows NovaCote to ‘seed’ untempered chocolate. The company anticipates that this will improve production time, reduce waste and allow manufacturers to innovate.