Enrober

Machine to coat a food item

An enrober is a machine used in the confectionery industry to coat a food item with a coating medium, typically chocolate. Foods that are coated by enrobers include nuts, ice cream, toffee, chocolate bars, biscuits and cookies. Enrobing with chocolate extends a confection's shelf life.^[1]

The enrober machine was invented in France in 1903,^[2] brought to the United States, and perfected to perform the work of at least twenty people.^[3]

The process of enrobing involves placing the items on the enrober's feed band, which may consist of a wire mesh or containers in which the confection to be enrobed are placed, with each container having drain holes to recover excess chocolate. The enrober maintains the coating medium at a controlled constant temperature and pumps the medium into a flow pan. The medium flows from the flow pan in a continuous curtain and bottoming bed that the food items pass through, completely coating them. A wire mesh conveyor belt then transports the coated confection to a cooling area.^[4]

References

^ Yiu H. Hui; Stephanie Clark (2007). Handbook of Food Products Manufacturing. Wiley-Interscience. p. 686. ISBN 9780470049648.
^ Arthur William Knapp (1920). Cocoa and chocolate: their history from plantation to consumer. Chapman and Hall, ltd. p. 152.
^ Louisiana Sugar Planters' Association, Louisiana Sugar Chemists' Association, American Cane Growers' Association (1913). The Louisiana planter and sugar manufacturer, Volume 51. Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer Co. p. 69.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ MD Ranken; RC Kill (1997). Food Industries Manual. Springer. p. 439. ISBN 9780751404043.