The Advent of Smart Kitchen Technology

The concept of a smart kitchen was once a futuristic idea, but it has now become a reality in many homes and professional kitchens. Smart appliances, such as refrigerators that can monitor food freshness, ovens that can be controlled remotely, and interactive cooking guides displayed on kitchen surfaces, have made cooking more intuitive and efficient. These advancements not only save time but also enhance the culinary experience by allowing for greater precision and convenience.

Precision Cooking Tools: Bringing Science to the Culinary Arts

One of the most significant impacts of technology in cookery is the introduction of precision cooking tools. Sous vide machines, for example, allow chefs to cook ingredients to the exact temperature required, resulting in perfectly cooked dishes every time. Similarly, high-precision scales and molecular gastronomy kits have enabled cooks to experiment with flavors and textures in ways that were once only possible in high-end restaurant kitchens.

The Role of Mobile Apps and Online Platforms

The digital revolution has also made its mark on the culinary world through mobile apps and online platforms. Recipe apps, online cooking classes, and food blogs offer an endless source of inspiration and knowledge, making it easier for anyone to learn new cooking techniques and explore global cuisines. Furthermore, apps that provide grocery delivery and meal planning services have streamlined the process of preparing home-cooked meals, making healthy eating more accessible.

Sustainability and Food Tech Innovations

As environmental concerns become increasingly prominent, technology in cookery has also focused on sustainability. Innovations such as plant-based meat substitutes, vertical farming, and food waste reduction apps are at the forefront of creating a more sustainable culinary ecosystem. These technologies not only address environmental issues but also offer new culinary experiences, expanding the palette of flavors and ingredients available to chefs and home cooks.

Interactive Dining Experiences: The Emergence of “Balloon Casino”

Amidst the myriad of technological advancements in the culinary world, the concept of interactive dining experiences has gained traction. An intriguing example is the Balloon Casino – a pop-up dining event that combines the thrill of casino games with gastronomic delights. Diners participate in games of chance, where winning bets are rewarded with exclusive dishes prepared using the latest culinary technologies. This fusion of entertainment and fine dining exemplifies how technology can transform the dining experience into an interactive and memorable event.

The Future of Cookery Technology: What’s Next?

Looking towards the future, technology in cookery is set to become even more innovative and immersive. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies are poised to offer new ways to explore culinary arts, from virtual cooking classes led by world-renowned chefs to AR-enhanced cookbooks that bring recipes to life. Additionally, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in kitchen appliances promises to make cooking even more personalized, with devices that can suggest recipes based on dietary preferences and available ingredients.

Conclusion: The Culinary Revolution Continues

The integration of technology into the culinary arts has not only transformed how we cook and experience food but has also opened up new possibilities for creativity, sustainability, and engagement in the kitchen. From the precision afforded by modern cooking tools to the interactive and immersive experiences offered by events technology continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in cookery. As we look forward, it’s clear that the fusion of technology and culinary arts will continue to evolve, offering exciting opportunities for innovation and exploration in the world of food.

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American truffles are usually a mixture of dark or milk chocolate with milk fat and hardened coconut oil, and the texture is adjusted by changing the amount of fat added. The mixture must be subjected to some conditioning before molding, which may be rolling, cutting, or (in some cases) extrusion. Because such a truffle contains virtually no moisture, it has a long shelf life.

European truffles combine syrup with a chocolate base of similar ingredients (i.e., cocoa powder, milk powder, fats, sugars, glucose syrup, and invert sugar). The finished truffle is a butter-in-water emulsion with a syrup phase adjusted to obtain a water activity of 0.7 or lower and a syrup phase concentration of 75% or more. Invertase may be added for this adjustment. When these conditions are met and the fat is well emulsified, a long shelf life of the product is achieved.

Swiss truffles are prepared from cream, dark chocolate and butter. Cream and butter are brought to a boil and then melted chocolate is added in approximately the following proportion: 60% chocolate, 10% butter and 30% cream. Sometimes an egg yolk is added. The ingredients are mixed in a whipping machine and then poured into trays to set. The aeration in the whipping machine helps to give the very soft paste some stiffness after solidification. Truffles are often sprinkled with cocoa powder and refrigerated to make them easier to handle; they can be rolled into balls or shaped. They can also be formed into glazed candies or rolled into “vermicelli”. These truffles are delicious but have a shelf life of only a few days, although freezing can extend this to several weeks.
This recipe is suitable for confectionery with a short shelf life – for example, “chocolate covered strawberries”.

In Europe, especially in Germany, truffles invariably contain alcoholic beverages such as brandy, cointreau and rum, which greatly increases shelf life (alcohol is a good preservative). A typical recipe for truffles with condensed milk instead of cream is given below:

Dark or milk chocolate 500 g
Condensed milk with sugar 500 g
The chocolate is melted and the condensed milk is heated to about the same temperature. Mix them in a planetary whisk for 3 to 5 minutes and then add 75 g of Quantro while stirring slowly. The mixture is poured into a solidification tray and then molded or piped as described above.

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Later, fire heating was replaced by steam jacketed boilers. The technology remained intermittent and the caramelization was still good. Some firms, frustrated with continuous processes, mechanized batch production with multiple boilers and piping.

Nevertheless, the study of the original batch process showed the importance of the time factor in cooking.

In continuous processes, a caramelizer is currently used that allows the continuously produced milk candy to be passed through a heater for about 20 min at a temperature close to the final boiling point of the milk mass. This allows for good caramelization.

Especially convenient for fudge production is the tray cooler, where the fudge is extruded into a cooling tray. Such a method yields a different product, and it is important to realize that fudge pieces cut from a plate prepared by the above-described boiler method are characterized by brittleness, while the continuous process (especially with extrusion) yields a softer paste.

In the case of the continuous process, it has been found to be beneficial to use a fondant with a higher sugar content – a sugar to glucose syrup ratio of 10:1 instead of the usual 4 : 1 or 3:1.

There are also different designs of heat exchangers, thin-film and with cleanable surfaces. If you intend to use these digesters for the production of milk candy masses, you must take into account the possibility of burning films of milk products on the surfaces. In this case, heat transfer is significantly reduced and dark particles may appear in the final product. The removal of these films is a complicated process that requires filling the cooking apparatus with concentrated alkali solutions and washing them thoroughly.

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Over the past few years, the production of flour and confectionery products has been slowly declining.

Traditional classic confectionery products continue to be in demand, the popularity of innovative products is also growing.

According to many experts, in today’s highly competitive market conditions, the surest way to become more successful is to develop and produce high-margin innovative products. Today, the production of traditional assortment is ensured by high production costs, while the production of innovative products makes greater use of the latest technologies in the field of raw materials and equipment, which ensures low production costs and attracts the consumer, as well as has a significant potential for branding, marketing and, ultimately, profit. To create innovative products, innovative ingredients are needed first.

It is important for a manufacturer to consider many factors when developing innovative products, as people’s needs depend on the stage of life they are living, their culture and environment, and what foods are currently available to them. It is also relevant that the same product may have different degrees of innovation for different consumers, i.e. interest in nutritional elements and health supplements differs depending on the consumer group.

In an environment of rapidly increasing competition and inflation, with constantly rising energy costs and a shortage of skilled labor, innovation is needed by businesses “like air”. It is the only resource unique to any enterprise that is extremely difficult for competitors to copy. It is innovation that can help companies improve their competitiveness.

The consumer is constantly offered a wide range of goods: products are rapidly changing, improving. Without utilizing the innovative potential, the manufacturer dooms itself to inevitable lagging behind. This means that it is necessary to keep up with modern technologies. It is necessary to constantly improve equipment, to introduce innovations, including in confectionery production.

But unfortunately innovative technologies are mainly acceptable to large confectionery enterprises struggling to develop new territories of the “market”. They use all kinds of automation, reducing jobs, the latest ingredients that accelerate the cooking process and increase the period of product realization.

These methods are practically not acceptable to small confectioneries, as they do not set the task of distributing their products in bulk, and realize them locally. Therefore, they rely on traditional methods with minimal mechanization and the use of all kinds of modern ingredients (mixtures). This allows them to be original, mobile in assortment, and to keep the quality of products at a high level.

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Consumer interest in healthy and wholesome desserts stimulates technologists to search for interesting recipes that meet consumer expectations. The Japanese have developed mineral candies filled with potassium and sodium.

Lollipops flavored with lemon, honey, grapefruit, tomato, seaweed maintain normal water-salt balance in the body, protect against dehydration. The taste and effect of candies were first appreciated by athletes during periods of intensive training.

The second Japanese company presented useful caramel to its customers. Puree of fresh fruits and vegetables replaces the traditional filling. Candies for a healthy lifestyle are presented in 3 flavor combinations:

• kiwi and spinach;
• banana and pumpkin;
• grapefruit and tomato.

Sweets for beauty

New confectionery technologies often aim to combine benefit and pleasure. Germans have developed and put into production a recipe for beauty sweets. Their composition will seem fantastic to someone, because along with yogurt and pomegranate cream and white chocolate praline, it includes:

• coenzyme Q10;
• collagen;
• aloe vera.

The ingredients listed are essential for firm, toned and beautiful skin, but seeing them in candy is unexpected.

Danish confectioners continued the work of their German colleagues and produced chocolate that satisfies hunger, tones muscles, and increases the body’s endurance. To do this, they added whey protein and coconut filling to the recipe.

The French are also experimenting with recipes for sweets. The result of one of these experiments is marshmallow for adults. Fleurs D’Amour dessert is not sold to minors, because all the ingredients in its composition are aphrodisiacs, awakening sexual desire.

Combining the incongruous

New technologies in confectionery production imply experiments with flavors and textures, combining products that seem incongruous to lovers. American confectioners Vosges have turned ordinary chocolate into a super healthy food rich in minerals, Omega 3, polysaccharides and other substances.

To do this, they added Chinese reishi mushrooms and walnuts to the traditional recipe.

Organic products

Scientists present interesting developments at exhibitions and food exchanges. The advantage of such developments is that they allow confectioners to abandon most chemical additives, replacing them with natural colors and organic products, while enriching the taste of desserts.

The development of baked goods with the addition of lupin flour is another useful innovation. It contains a large amount of protein and iron, healthy fats. Products with lupin flour are useful for people with high sugar, overweight, heart and vascular diseases.

Cakes with wow-effect

Wow-effect is a state when the customer is completely satisfied, when the cake causes genuine joy and meets expectations in taste and decoration.

Confectioners bake standard round, square and rectangular shaped cakes, as well as complex 3D designs in the form of a balloon, a car, a soft toy, a ship, a tablet, the Eiffel Tower and other structures. Vegetable cakes, particularly carrot cakes, are also popular. Trends are shifting towards mousses and decorations and fresh berries. Live flowers are also used in the decoration.

Sugar mastic is relevant in the design, as before. It is used to decorate tiers and create sweet figures on cakes.

Food printer

Complex decoration requires from confectioners artistic taste and modern equipment. New technology in the production of cakes are considered food printers, with the help of which masters create real masterpieces.

Budget food printers print on sugar paper, which has high color accuracy and saturated colors. With their help, the surface of the cake can be turned into a landscape, still life and any other canvas of the artist.

Innovative food printing devices allow you to create 3D figures in black and white and color versions, as well as three-dimensional compositions made of chocolate. The output is works of art worthy of a place in the expositions of thematic museums.

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Semi-finished products for confectionery: sponge cake and chocolate sponge; sand semi-finished product on the basis of margarine – has exceptional plasticity, can be rolled out on a rolling machine; air semi-finished product.

Assembly and decoration of original cakes and pastries using new types of raw materials and semi-finished products:

• Making cakes and pastries based on dry mixes that allow to give the cream not only the color and flavor of berries and fruits, but also contain pieces of fruit.
• Cheesecake – classic and new variants. Cooking cheesecakes with combined fillings, variety of finishes.
• Technologies of confectionery production using fruit fillings and soft gels for coating and decoration.

High fruit content and excellent flavor will make the product attractive.

• Using marzipan in cakes and pastries as well as in baked goods.
• Working with couvertures (decorations, coatings).
• Peculiarities of working with chocolate – tempering.
• Making decors with the use of specially designed equipment, demonstration of decoration of finished products.
• Decorating cakes using Chinese technology. Cakes in the form of a dome, the technique of working with vegetable cream, coloring with gel, airbrush.
• Possibilities of using ready-made decorations: sprinkles, glaze nuts for the design of confectionery.

Cakes in the form of chupa-chups or “lollipop” on a stick

What are the advantages of serving a traditional dessert in this form:

1. Low weight – one “lollipop cake” is equal to one to three bites;
2. Suitable for those on a diet;
3. Even those who pay tribute to the main menu can try it;
4. No destruction of integrity. Each slice is a separate cake;
5. Modern and unusual look;
6. Comfortable to hold – comfortable to eat.

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Typically, confectioners, especially for jellies, rely on a starch mogul, a machine that makes candy or candy fillings from syrups and jellies.

SiMoGel replaces traditional starch moguls with silicone or blisters. Rousselot says this model will be profitable for confectioners.

SiMoGel, designed to help confectioners make starch-free gelatin, first appeared in 2017 and is used with pork or cow gelatin. Since then, Rousselot has been working to advance the starch-free thickening technology, testing it with British engineering company Baker Perkins, which offers process systems and equipment to the confectionery and bakery industry worldwide.

Starch-free thickening is becoming increasingly popular as it is more hygienic and much quicker than the usual 24 hours required for the starch process.

For nearly 1,000 years, gelatin was molded using starch mold, but with the advent of nutraceutical and medical gelatin, it has become more difficult to use and process starch. Starch-free thickening in silicone or metal is a clean and hygienic manufacturing process. However, making gelatin candy in this environment was not so easy. This mold, unlike starch mold, cannot be easily separated from the machine, and gelatin candies must thicken for 24-48 hours before further processing. Therefore, many saturated candies were made without gelatin, and they did not have the unique composition and aftertaste that gelatin has.

Saturated candy segment

With SiMoGel, cross contamination between industrial series can also be avoided. Reduced thickening time allows more product to be produced in a shorter time and at a lower cost.

Previously, starchless thickening was limited by the fact that it required an extremely long time. By reducing it, producers can reduce the impact of other lines and increase production.

In addition, there is a growing interest in healthy products around the world. This trend will give a major boost to the saturated candy segment. When it comes to getting children to take vitamins or specific nutrients, pills may not be the easiest solution. Saturated candy can mask the bad taste of vitamins or fish oil.

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