In the candy kitchen

They are red, blue, striped or filled, sweet or refreshing. They are impossible to resist. But a tasty candy has been on a long journey before ending up in your mouth. When producing confectionery, food and processing technology must be cleverly combined.

Taking a peek at a confectioner's work
That is exactly what happens at Bosch Confectionery Technology in Viersen. The confectioners work in a hall as big as a basketball court. The warm air is full of the scent of caramelized sugar, the tiles are shiny and clean, and the stainless steel-clad machines whirr quietly. "This is our technology center," Alexander Schmitz, Head of the Bosch Confectionary Department explains, adding: "You could also call it our candy kitchen." In a white overall, with a cap on his head, the engineer is standing in a 30 meter long production facility. At its end, red and white striped drops are falling from a conveyor belt into a large plastic crate or immediately wrapped by Bosch wrapping machines. In Viersen, Bosch develops machines that can produce all types and colors of candies and prepare them for sale.

New recipes, new technology
The technology center is a laboratory in two ways. Candy manufacturers can test and develop new recipes on existing machines together with Bosch engineers. The technology center also constantly tests and improves new machines. Here, technology creates flavor. Because as delightful as candies may be, they must be produced by highly developed machines that conform with state-of-the-art technical standards.

How it's done

The basic mixture comes first
Take some water, sugar and glucose. The basic ingredients of candies are always the same. Caramel candies also need a little milk, while Gummi Bears require some gelatin or starch. The basic recipe still contains around 20% or 30% water, which is boiled off to a greater or lesser extent in the boiling process. After boiling, the mixture is simply sweet, sticky and colorless.

Adding color and taste
The next question is which color and taste the candy should have. Flavoring, herbs or colors are added. The Bosch candy experts know that it comes down to details in the recipe. Sugar from Africa can react differently to sugar from South America. Naturally, Bosch Confectionery in Viersen provides advice on which ingredients can be combined in which way to achieve the desired result. Once the recipe is finished, machines must produce the candies. Nowadays, the best candies are unthinkable without hi-tech.

Hi-tech for sweet temptations

Around 140° Celsius and a great deal of water
Fully automatic candy production lines begin with a weighing unit that provides the correct amount of water, sugar and glucose. Stainless steel cauldrons are used to heat the basic ingredients up to 142° C. The next step determines the future consistency of the candies. The higher the boiling temperature, the more water is evaporated by the machine and the harder the candy will become. Gummi Bears retain about 30% water, chews have 7% and hard drops only contain 1% water.

The right mixture
Often, many different types of candies can be produced by the same machine. The basic mixture is given its taste and color in an inline-mixer, a kind of enormous concrete mixer. Healthy herbal extracts, for instance, are added to cough candies. But whether the taste is sweet or sour, minty or strawberry, the basic mixture takes on that taste – and can be shaped in any way.

Put into the right form
There are two basic ways of getting a candy into its correct shape. Candies are either poured while still hot, then cooled and wrapped. Alternatively, the flavored basic mixture can be cooled down first. A stamping machine then forms the candy mixture into the right shape.

Hard on the outside, soft inside
Making candies have a hard shell and a soft center is particularly challenging for candy machines. Filling machines are used for this purpose. The art is to get as much filling as possible into the candy. Bosch Confectionery can use all standard processes, which were exclusively developed by staff in Viersen themselves.

Pretty wrapping for the right effect
The precision of Bosch wrapping machines is particularly impressive. In seconds, they can seal individual cough candies, or wrap and fold them into paper. Bosch uses so called bag filling machines for candies to increase the proportion of environmentally friendly wrapping. The special bags mean candies and Gummi Bears do not need individual wrappers — which saves wrapping materials and is good for the environment.

The "Bosch candy team"

Together for better candies
280 Bosch employees in Viersen ensure that candies get better and better around the world. The team is almost as colorful as the candies themselves. In the "Bosch candy team," confectioners work together with process engineers and sweet food experts, who come from the world's only specialist school for manufacturing candies in Solingen. Traditionally, the company also has many mechanical engineers on the job. "They must all work hand in hand," Alexander Schmitz says, since the strength of Bosch Confectionery is its ability to supervise customers the entire time from developing the product to conceiving the production line and running the machines.

Operating worldwide
Bosch supports candy production by almost all important manufacturers in the world. Are there some candies on your desk? They were probably produced by a machine assembled in Viersen.