Why chocolate Saint Nicholas cannot be produced without compressed air.
During the advent season and especially on 6th December, in Germany and other countries it’s a tradition for young and old to enjoy a delicious chocolate Nicholas! But very few lovers of this sweet know that a lot of compressed air is involved in the production of chocolate.
Hollow chocolate figures are produced with the so-called dipping process, in which compressed air plays an important role: The chocolate shells are created by briefly dipping a cooled stamp into a bath of liquid chocolate. When it surfaces again, the chocolate figures adhere to the stamp and are then released from it with compressed air. Moreover, compressed air is used several production steps in advance by first transporting the cocoa powder to the processing location. And at the end the coloured aluminium foil is blown around the finished chocolate figure using compressed air.
Since the compressed air comes into direct contact with the chocolate, producers must ensure high quality without mineral oil residues.
More applications and our whitepaper about Food Safety can be found on our dedicated page about food and beverage applications of compressed air:
