Chocolate, Cocoa, and Confectionery : Science and Technology [Hardcover]

Bernard W. Minifie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 1989 | ISBN-10: 083421301X | ISBN-13: 978-0834213012 | Edition: 3

Recognised as the industry standard, this definitive guide provides a comprehensive review of chocolate and confectionary production and processing operations. The technical and scientific aspects of the various manufacturing procedures are emphasized: formulations and recipes are used as needed to supplement explanations and to advance understanding of a particular process. Other areas include raw materials, emulsifiers, replacers and compounds, ingredients, sweeteners, starches and colors, applied methods, food value, packaging and entomology.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 904 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 3 edition (August 31, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 083421301X
• ISBN-13: 978-0834213012
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #448,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warning! This is Science and Technology, NOT Cooking With Chocolate 101, December 15, 2005

By 

Samantha Madell (Dundas, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chocolate, Cocoa, and Confectionery : Science and Technology (Hardcover)

I own and operate a small chocolate factory in Australia, where small-scale chocolate manufacturing is basically unheard of. As such, Minifie's book has been an invaluable reference for me, and is the second most frequently consulted book on my shelf (after my dictionary).

In response to the reviewer who gave this book one star because of its lack of relevance to the home cook, and because of its "inadequate" table of contents, I have two comments:
1. The book is sub-titled "Science and Technology" (as opposed to "Cooking with Chocolate") for a good reason, and
2. Like all good text books, this one comes complete with a comprehensive index in the back.

Given that Amazon does not currently provide the Table of Contents for this book, and because this lack of information has clearly upset at least one person, I've decided to transcribe it below, as my 2005 Christmas gift to all you fellow chocolate fanatics out there ...

(The information below refers to the 1999 Third Edition of the book. Apologies for any typos)

PREFACE
Acknowledgments
PART 1: Cocoa and Chocolate
Ch 1. History and Development
Ch 2. Cocoa Processes
Ch 3. Cocoa Butter and Replacement Fats
Ch 4. Emulsifiers
Ch 5. Chocolate Manufacture
Ch 6. Confectionery Coatings, Chocolate Replacers, Dietetic Compounds
Ch 7. Chocolate Bars and Covered Confectionery

PART 2: Confectionery: Ingredients and Processes
Ch 8. Sugars, Glucose Syrups, and Other Sweeteners
Ch 9. Confectionery Fats
Ch 10. Milk and Milk Products
Ch 11. Egg Albumen and Other Aerating Agents
Ch 12. Gelatinizing Agents, Gums, Glazes, Waxes
Ch 13. Starches, Soya Flour, Soya Protein
Ch 14. Fruits
Ch 15. Nuts
Ch 16. Chemical and Allied Substances Used in the Confectionery Industry
Ch 17. Colors for Use in Confectionery
Ch 18. Flavor and Flavoring Materials
Ch 19. Confectionery Processes and Formulations

PART 3: General Technology
Ch 20. Science and Technology of Chocolate and Confectionery
Ch 21. Pest Control
Ch 22. Packaging in the Confectionery Industry
Ch 23. Quality Control
Ch 24. Food Value of Chocolate and Confectionery
Ch 25. Research and Development in the Confectionery Industry
Appendix 1. Special Methods of Analysis
Appendix 2. Resources
Index

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars everything for the chocolate professional, May 22, 2001

By 

Mark Eichin (Concord, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chocolate, Cocoa, and Confectionery : Science and Technology (Hardcover)

This is not a casual chocolate curiousity book; this is a dense, 800+ page, heavily cross-referenced textbook. Everything from picking and inspection and storage of cacao, to specialized processing machinery, to chemistry and production; includes a somewhat disturbing chapter on symptoms and types of infestation due to improper bean storage. One could probably build a degree program in chocolate production and industry around this text, some of the references, and some hands on work.

18 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Food Science Textbook, June 13, 2004

By 

jerry i h (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chocolate, Cocoa, and Confectionery : Science and Technology (Hardcover)

This 900 page tome is an eductional and scientific tour-de-force. It is also of absolutely no use to the home cook, professional pastry chef, or even confectioner. So, this book gets the lowest rating possible.

This book has achieved something of a legendary reputation; virtually every chocolate cookbook lists this book in a bibliography. After reading this book, this hard to understand. It is a college level textbook covering food science, food technology, and industrial manufacturing. If you are a prospective food technologist, this book is a must have. For the rest of us, forget it.

The book is written with the British chocolate and confectionery industries in mind; this is not a problem except when it comes to the anecdotal stories of manufacturing and retail companies, and such things as ?brown rat? instead of Norway rat. Some of the chapters (cocoa butter, sugar, confectionery fats, pseudo-chocolate) are very interesting, but, sadly, of little practical value. The book would be a more useful reference if the sub-headings in each chapter were listed; as is, the table of contents lists only the chapter title, which is a problem since some of the chapters are over 100 pages long. Each chapter is a more or less independent monograph on a particular subject. The main strength of this book is in having so many such monographs all in one place. Some of the more editorial portions of the book tend to be slightly na?ve, such as the chapter on nutrition. Few companies are large enough to have a staff food chemist, a staff entomologist, and a staff psychologist on the regular payroll. There are some old, interesting, rare, and valuable out-of-print confectionery books listed in the bibliography in the appendices that are worth hunting for.

I did pick a few interesting tidbits, however. Cream centers that are dipped in chocolate while still warm causes small cracks in the chocolate, and the filling leaks out. The sugar in Lyle's Golden Syrup is partially inverted, which means that, from a confectionery point of view, it is similar to corn syrup and honey. The procedure for dissolving egg albumen is soaking for 24 hours in a cool place, and sieving; most procedures call for just soaking for one hour before use.

Part 1 is 200 pages, and covers the industrial processing of cocoa beans into cocoa and chocolate. Part 2 is 300 pages, and has nothing to do with chocolate. It covers food stuffs other than chocolate that are commonly used in confectionery processes. The material in this section is easily available from standard texts on food science. Part 3 is 200 pages and covers pest control, packaging, QC, nutrition, and R&D. The last 100 pages cover bibliography, index, and some laboratory tests that are peculiar to chocolate.

Of particular interest in Part 3 is Chapter 20 which focuses on the physical properties of chocolate. In a short (15 page) but fascinating section, it lists the causes of fat bloom: poor tempering, cooling too fast and covering cold centers, butter and milk fats in the centers of chocolate coated candy, warm storage temperatures, fats not compatible with cocoa butter mixed into the chocolate, and finger prints. This section then goes on to review several articles on bloom, and concludes that the causes are subject to debate and disagreement. It also has a rare and brief (2 page) section on sugar bloom, which I have never seen. The rest of this chapter covers material with no particular practical relevance.