Answer

Candy Corn Production Process

Candy corn refers to triangular shaped pieces of candy made from honey, sugar and corn syrup (Soley, 2016). The product is usually colored in specific pattern of three stripes. The yellow end is the widest, followed by orange in the center and white at the tip. My choice for this food is due to its popularity in America. It has been significantly popular in the states for over a century. The product is sometimes referred to as mellow creem due to the lack of fats in it and its marshmallow flavor. This essay thus provides a full description into the whole process of producing candy corn, from the requisite raw materials to the realization of the product at the shelves or shipment.

Raw materials

The ingredients for candy corn vary widely with the manufacturer. Nevertheless, the most important ingredients include sugar and corn syrup. The firm-bodied candy is produced by adding soy protein and gelatin. Other raw materials normally used include salt, honey, colors, artificial flavors, and confectioner’s oil glaze (Soley, 2016). The corn starch forms the most significant raw material to ensure proper molding of the candy. This corn starch only acts as a molding agent since it does not form part of the finished product.

Production Process

The process used to manufacture candy corn is known as starch casting. Through this  process, the candy’s shape is made by creating impressions in a cornstarch powder. The impressions are then separately filled with liquid candy. Normally, the cornstarch is used since it easily retains the desired shapes of the product. As the candy dries, cornstarch enhances moisture loss from it, thus preserving its quality. The conventional manufacturing process of the product including starch casting is done inside a machine known as a Mogul. The process require at least twenty four hours to completion of the production (Soley, 2016). At times, it may take forty eight hours depending on the factory’s ambient humidity and moisture content of the batch being processed.

Specific Steps

First, mogul is placed via conveyor belt by a stacker. The mogul then puts cornstarch into trays where they are treated to ensure smooth molding process. A leveler made of plastic then brushes over the tray tops to level off the cornstarch placed within the tray. Secondly, the plastic trays are advanced into the dye section within the mogul. At this point, hundreds of triangles leave numerous impressions in the cornstarch within the trays. Thee candies are then prepared in separate candy kitchens where corn syrup, salt, sugar, honey, flavors, gelatin and soy protein are mixed together (Helms, 2016). The slurry formed is cooked then delivered separately to depositors to avoid inadvertent mixing.

The next step involves deposition of the slurry on the impressions made in the trays. Each of the formed cornstarch has a nozzle through which liquid candy is deposited. Deposition of the candy occurs in three phases. First, the white tip is injected by the nozzle into the tip of each triangle. Secondly, orange strip is then deposited against the white tip. Finally, yellow strip is added at the wider end of the candy (Helms, 2016).

The third step involves conveying the filled candy to the end of the machine and stacking them automatically. The stacked trays are thereafter moved from the mogul and transported to the dry rooms to set. In the dry rooms, the candies are left for at least twenty four hours depending on the prevailing atmospheric conditions (Helms, 2016). After drying, the dull-looking candy are polished to give an appealing sheen. The polished candies are sent to the packaging machines which first weighs the candy, puts it into bags, seals the bags and puts the sealed product into cases for shipment.