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E406 Agar Applications: Agar Agar Candy
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【Summary】
Soft candy is mainly made of edible gums and sugar. Because of the different hydrocolloids used, the properties of the soft candy are different. For example, the soft candy made of Agar Agar has good transparency, toughness, brittleness, but the extensibility will be worse is not so good if compared with the soft candy made from starch.
Therefore, it can also be mixed with other materials, such as adding gelatin, modified starch juice, puree or melon, which is beneficial to improve the flavor and taste, and is more easily loved by consumers.
What is Agar Agar? What is Soft Candy? What is Agar Agar Candy?
Agar-Agar is a hydrocolloid obtained by extracting algae such as Geldium and Gracilaria from Pretreatment with alkali solution, water washing, boiling with a weakly acidic solution, filtering to remove impurities, solidification, dehydration, drying, and grinding.When it comes to soft candy, many people love their mouth feels, especially the children. So, what is the soft candy made of?
Soft candy is a candy with high moisture content, softness, elasticity and toughness. Some are sticky, some are brittle, transparent, translucent, and opaque.
Soft candy is mainly made of edible gum and sugar. Because of the different hydrophilic colloids used, the properties of the soft candy are different. For example, the soft candy made of agar has good transparency and toughness. Brittleness, but if compared with soft candy made from starch, the extensibility will be worse.
Agar is also known as frozen powder and seaweed. It is extracted from seaweed. The agar content in seaweed is 25 to 35%. Agar is a mixture of galactose. The combination of galactose and linear chain called agar has a strong gel strength; the branched agar has a weaker gel strength.
Agar Applications: Agar Agar Candy
Agar is easy to absorb water and swell and can be dissolved into a viscous aqueous solution in hot water. After cooling, it solidifies into a transparent gel, which is used to produce crystal jelly and marshmallows.
However, because agar is not absorbed in human digestive organs, it is not spoiled, and it can maintain a large amount of water. Therefore, agar products have a laxative effect.
According to the gel ability of agar, the amount of agar in the soft candy is generally 1% to 2.5%, the carbohydrate is mainly sucrose, and the starch syrup is supplemented, and the ratio is about 3:2.
The soft candy made from agar has better transparency, quality and mouthfeel than other soft candy.
However, since the aqueous agar solution is stable in the range of pH 4.5 to 9, the decomposition is broken under acidic conditions lower than pH 4.5, and the gelling ability is lost.
Therefore, the soft candy made by agar is mostly made into a sweet type without being made into a sour type.
Soft Jelly Candy = Agar Agar Candy
This kind of jelly candy has good transparency, good elasticity, toughness and brittleness. It is always made into a fruity, and milky flavor. Crystal jelly Candy is a kind of Jelly Candy.
The water content is between about 18 and 24%.
What are the processing steps of agar agar candy?
- Melting
Soak the selected agar in cold water and use about 20 times the amount of water, depending on the quality of the agar. It can be heated to 85-95 ° C, dissolved and filtered.
2. Boiling
The ratio of granulated sugar to starch syrup varies depending on the dicing or casting.
If it is a diced soft candy, the amount of starch syrup should be high. If it is a molded soft candy, the amount of sugar should be more.
It is also possible to replace the starch syrup with sucrose.
First, the sugar is dissolved in water, added to the melted agar, heated to 105-106 ° C, added to the starch syrup, and then simmered to the desired concentration, the concentration of the molded soft candy should be 78 ~ 79%; The concentration of the diced soft candy can be slightly lower.
3. Adding Color, Fragrance, Acid
After the sugar liquid is removed from the fire source, the pigment and flavor are added.
Citric acid was introduced when the temperature of the sugar liquid dropped below 76 °C.
In order to protect the agar from acid decomposition, sodium citrate was added as a buffer before the addition of citric acid, and the sodium citrate content was one-fifth of that of citric acid.
The acidity is preferably controlled at a pH of 4.5 to 5.0.
4. Molding
Including dicing or casting.
Before dicing, the sugar liquid needs to be condensed on the cooling table, and the setting time is about 0.5 to 1 hour.
For cast molding, the powder mold temperature should be maintained at 32 ~ 35 ° C, the syrup temperature is not lower than 65 ° C.
It takes more than 3 hours to set the time after pouring. The coagulation temperature is about 38 °C.
5. Drying and Packaging
After the molding, the soft candy needs to enter the drying room to remove some moisture.
The temperature of the drying room is preferably 26 to 43 °C. If the temperature is too high and the drying speed is too fast, the outer layer of the soft candy will become a hard shell and the surface will shrink.
When it is dry to a non-sticky hand, it is suitable that the water content does not exceed 20%. In order to prevent mildew, the jelly candy must be tightly packed.
Any tips for making agar agar candy?
Cooking at high temperatures for a long time will destroy the gelling ability of the agar. Therefore, after adding agar, the temperature should be controlled, generally the temperature is 105-109 °C.
Although the texture is soft and tender, the structure is not solid, it needs to be baked to remove some water and increase its toughness.
As a traditional gel material, agar has a long history of use in the production of soft candy. However, with the rapid development of the food industry, only the addition of agar can not meet the taste requirements of consumers,
so it is often mixed with other materials, such as gelatin. Modified starch juice, puree or melon, etc., combined with other materials, the soft candy has the characteristics of variability and diversity, which is beneficial to improve the flavor and taste, and is more easily loved by consumers.
About Gino Biotech
We are a biotech company specialized in the research, development and commercialization of innovative and technological food additives hydrocolloids Agar Agar, Carrageenan and Tailor-Made Stabilizer Solutions.
With the extended know-how and experience in the research, application and use of Hydrocolloids, we could provide one-stop-shop customized solutions perfectly matched to the needs of our customers.
Our products cover the needs of the Meat, Dairy, Bakery, Confectionery and other industrial sectors.
