Sugar panning, or simply panning, is a method for adding a sugar-based "shell" to confectionery or nuts. Popular products that employ this process in their manufacture include dragées, chocolate buttons,

gobstoppers Gobstoppers, also known as jawbreakers in the United States, are a type of hard candy. They are usually round, and usually range from across; though gobstoppers can be up to in diameter. The term ''gobstopper'' derives from "gob", which is sl ...

konpeitō , also spelled ''kompeitō'', is a type of Japanese sugar candy. It takes the form of a small sphere with a bumpy surface, and comes in a variety of colors and flavors. Etymology The word comes from the Portuguese word ('' comfit''), which ...

and

jelly beans Jelly beans are small bean shaped sugar candies with soft candy shells and thick gel interiors (see gelatin and jelly). The confection is primarily made of sugar and sold in a wide variety of colors and flavors. History It has been clai ...

. Jelly beans use ''soft'' panning while the others are examples of ''hard'' panning. The process was initially invented in 17th-century

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

to make

jordan almonds Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan River ...

Method

The same process is used for hard and soft panning, but different ingredients and speeds are used for each. A dragée pan, a spherical or oval pan mounted on an angled spinning post, is used. The pan is open to the air to allow ingredients to be added and the syrup to dry. The centers are put in the dragée pan, and

syrup In cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup; from ar, شراب; , beverage, wine and la, sirupus) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved suga ...

is added. When the pan is rotated, the syrup is evenly distributed over the centers, drying as a layer. Soft panned layers can be quite thick and do not preserve the shape of the center very well. Hard-panned layers take longer to dry and can be as thin as 10-14μm. Many types of center may be used, but they must be strong enough to not break during the tumbling. Nuts should be dried and sealed, such as with

gum arabic Gum arabic, also known as gum sudani, acacia gum, Arabic gum, gum acacia, acacia, Senegal gum, Indian gum, and by other names, is a natural gum originally consisting of the hardened sap of two species of the ''Acacia'' tree, ''Senegalia se ...

and

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many c ...

, to prevent oils from escaping and discoloring the candy shell. Other centers may be precoated for sealing or to improve the syrup sticking to the center. Chewing gum is difficult to pan without precoating.

Materials

Soft panning uses a syrup that will not crystallize, such as glucose. To assist in drying, powdered sugar or caster sugar is added during processing.

References

{{reflist Confectionery Cooking techniques Culinary terminology

Method

Materials

See also

References