July 6, 2023
People of all ages love sweets as treats for themselves or their loved ones. Whether it is a white or dark chocolate bar, a milk chocolate truffle, or a white chocolate candy, its irresistible taste brings joy to anyone's palate. However, behind every bite is an intricate process to make every piece. And this process is steered by the assembly of a filling machine.
This machine transforms a simple cocoa shell into an extraordinarily savory blend of flavors, creating a match. Learn more about this machine and how it’s used to make your favorite sweets.
Chocolate-making dates back thousands of years, when the first civilizations cultivated cacao trees and used the seeds in a chocolate-like beverage. It is made by concocting ground-roasted cacao beans, water, and spices.
It underwent many transformations and product innovations until it became a solid chocolate bar in the 18th and 19th centuries. They continued improving the process until they finally introduced the automatic filling machine.
However, before that, in the 20th century, modern makers explored new flavors and flavor combinations. They focused on using high-quality ingredients and technological advancements in various processing techniques and machines.
Today, we enjoy various chocolates — each has unique tastes and distinct characteristics, like dark chocolates with a high content of solid cocoa and lesser sugar and a bar of white chocolate with a creamy taste made of cocoa butter, sugar, and milk powder.
There are also unsweetened chocolates used for baking and cooking, milk chocolates, couverture chocolates, and many more. From the manual filling machine, the equipment and processes evolved. Now, all these are made through distinct, intricate, and automated processes.
Every manufacturer can have a different chocolate-making process. They can employ techniques unique to the type of chocolates they experiment with according to the flavors they want to achieve. They can also vary according to the machines, like the chocolate filling machine.
Regardless of their dissimilarities, they undergo a typical multi-step process from harvest to finished product, and this involves the following:
Machines are crucial in almost every process. It improves efficiency, maintains accuracy, and increases productivity. It improves cost effectiveness by implementing machine-related cost savings initiatives and establishing quality control measures.
Indeed, in making it, every manufacturer should have state-of-the-art machines like a chocolate filling machine. It is designed for unique and special production requirements, ever ready to meet the changing needs of the industry.
On the list are the most popular machine types:
This machine fills chocolates into molds or containers with precision control on volume. It uses a piston to draw a specific amount of liquid or viscous product from the storage tank into a container or molder.
It injects creamy fillings into a product, like a chocolate ganache filled into a cupcake. It uses a piston or a nozzle to inject or deposit fillings into molds. It comes in different sizes with different configurations.
Auger-type machines or agitator machines measure, fill and push products using auger screws. It can dispense products in powder or granulated forms like powdered coca or thick, viscous products like chocolate fudge.
Often auger machines are best for the accuracy of weight or volume measurements, used together with a vertical form fill seal machine.
This fully automated machine can handle significant volumes of chocolate products. It continuously operates an assembly of rotating carousels for circular filling, capping, and labeling.
It has multiple nozzles and uses pistons to dispense the product into a pouch bag container, like chocolate fillings. It is a highly automated and accurate machine filler.
It is not a filler machine but is of equal importance in production. It is commonly used in the confectionery industry to coat a food item, typically chocolate products like chocolate bars, nuts, cookies, and biscuits.
When selecting which machine to use in chocolate making, always consider every factor your process requires, like the filling capacity, accuracy, and the type of product you make. You even have to look after the machine's versatility, specialization, and ease of cleaning and maintenance.
To get the best ones, always ask and get assistance from reliable sources and experts in the industry, like the Plan It Packaging System. They can guide you in searching for the best filling machine to make the best chocolates. You can only have the best of your product when using the best machines, which makes them a match made in heaven.
