Process improvement Florentines
My name is Merel Rijnen, food technologist and owner of Food Dynamics.
Today, I am going to take you briefly into a project that Food Dynamics has supported. The manufacturing of Florentines, where I was able to improve the product quality and the production process.
I cannot reveal any secrets, but I will try to explain what was achieved in this project.
What are Florentines?
Florentines are small round biscuits with pieces of almonds.
This product is based on sugar and glucose. The functionality of glucose is to prevent the sugar from crystallizing too quickly. The sugar can slowly caramelize into an nice brown colour.
The functionality of sugar is to obtain a nice crispy texture.
The baking time is very critical because Florentines tend to color quickly and may not run out or foam.
The dough preparation is critical because ingredients have to work together. Time and temperature can change the properties undesirably.
By cutting the whole manufacturing process into pieces, I could thoroughly investigate the functions of the different steps. What exactly happens in which step?
We could test variables 1 by 1 on a small scale and assess whether and which variables, have a positive influence on the product and the process.
The production of Florentines had been problematic for years. But thanks to 2 days of focus in the innovation lab of Food Dynamics, we were able to tackle the problem.
The major crux in this project turned out to be the cooking process.
Thanks to a number of technical adjustments, the quality is guaranteed and no longer variable, regardless of the conditions in the factory.
- The capacity has been increased because the dough preparation. This has been reduced by 30 minutes.
- Ingredient costs have been reduced since we could weigh the almonds more accurately.
- The production process has been simplified.
Product development
Are you curious how Food Dynamics can help you with the product quality or proces improvement? Merel is ready to help.
