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Everything will be in chocolate: EFKO held a seminar for confectioners

24.04.2023
Everything will be in chocolate: EFKO held a seminar for confectioners
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Everything will be in chocolate: EFKO held a seminar for confectioners
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From pizza to tiramisu: EFKO seminar for the dairy industry

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EFKO Group started production of milk fat substitutes in accordance with GOST13.03.2023

In our R&D-center in Moscow, a seminar "Vectors of development of the confectionery market" was held. The main topic is cocoa butter alternatives, as these ingredients are used to produce a variety of sweets. The participants discussed the intricacies of their application, and we also held a delicious master class. EFKO technologists prepared sweets, chocolate with fillings and waffles right during the meeting, demonstrating the quality of products using our ingredients.

For the production of chocolate, not only cocoa butter is used, but also its alternatives. The reason is simple: cocoa butter is an expensive and scarce product - it is simply not physically enough. Cocoa trees grow in a relatively small area, mainly in equatorial Africa and South America. Therefore, the food industry throughout the 20th century has been looking for and developing options for its replacement.

Cocoa butter equivalents are made from exotic vegetable oils. Technologically, they are even slightly superior to cocoa butter. These ingredients have high hardness, crystallization rate and temperature and can be used for the production of chocolate and chocolate coatings.

Our technologists prepared several sweets at once with the equivalent that our company produces - it was used to make chocolates with caramel and passion fruit, dragees in milk chocolate with cashews, coffee and sesame sweets. It turned out great!

At the same time, our technologists told how to deal with one of the main "pains" of confectioners - "graying of chocolate", when a white coating forms on the surface of the product. Most often, chocolate "turns gray" due to violation of storage conditions.

“If the chocolate mass is even slightly“ overheated ”during transportation or already during storage, the crystal lattice of cocoa butter simply disintegrates,” explains our  technologist Evgenia Potekina. - During solidification, the crystals become stable, but the wrong crystal structure on the surface of the product. Hence the "fat bloom".

Our company has developed innovative ingredients - cocoa butter improvers based on shea butter. They solve the problem of "graying" - they are suitable for use in regions with a hot climate and have proven themselves well in products with a high content of milk fat.

Another option for cocoa butter alternatives that the participants discussed during the workshop is new generation cocoa butter substitutes.

“We are talking about mixed-type cocoa butter substitutes for glazes - these are fundamentally new products,” said EFKO Group technologist Ekaterina Hambalinova.  - Such ingredients took the best from lauric cocoa butter substitutes and non-lauric type: accelerated crystallization of the former and plasticity of the latter in the production of glazed products, and also solved the problem of normalizing trans-isomers. Such fats are optimal for the production of dark, white and milk glazes for glazing the entire range of flour confectionery products, including wafers, praline-type sweets and all other products where non-lauric-type ZMC are currently used. The product is so ahead of its time that the legal terminology for it is still being developed.”

To introduce pastry chefs to the new generation of cocoa butter substitutes, we held a master class on making glazed vanilla wafers.

“Seminars are a good tradition in our company,” said Director for the confectionery industry of the oil and fat division of EFKO Group of Companies Alena Surkova. - We meet with partners to discuss market trends and legislation, to exchange views and experience. And this time we gathered participants in our R&D center to demonstrate the possibilities of using our new ingredients.”

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Dear partners!

In order to improve EFKO products and quality of service, as well as to better meet your needs, we ask you to answer a few questions.

In the Alekseevskaya Sloboda of the Belgorod province, where in the late 1820s, sunflower oil was produced for the first time in the Russian Empire, and the first oil mill in Russia was built.

During the years of the First World War, and then the Civil War, production was completely stopped. The restoration of the plant began only in 1923. The main focus of its work remained the processing of coriander and anise. In 1936, the second oil extraction plant in all of Russia was built in Alekseevka. Later, both enterprises were merged into one of the largest essential oil extraction complexes in the Soviet Union.

During the Great Patriotic War, the complex was almost destroyed. Restoration work, which began in 1943, continued until the end of 1948. In the post-war period, comprehensive reconstruction was carried out on many sections using the latest technological advancements. By the 1970s, the Alekseevsky essential oil extraction complex produced up to 80% of the world's coriander oil. For its achievements in production development, the development and implementation of advanced technology, by decree of August 14, 1972, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded the plant the Order of the Badge of Honor.

Unfortunately, in the 1990s, the enterprise that brought fame and wealth to the people of Alekseevka fell into decline and practically collapsed. The revival of the enterprise began in 1994 with the arrival of a new team and the creation of the EFCO Group.

The enterprise underwent large-scale modernization of production and established a new management system. The company decided to return to its roots and resume the production of sunflower oil. Later, EFCO expanded the range and volume of products.

In 2002, a new business direction was opened, and the most modern plant for the production of specialized fats and margarines for the food industry, EFCO Food Ingredients, was launched in the city of Alekseevka, Belgorod region. A scientific and production laboratory was established at the plant, equipped to control product quality at all stages of production and conduct in-depth scientific research.

In 2002–2003, EFCO technologists mastered the most environmentally friendly process of vegetable oil processing – the 'dry' fractionation method, applied the technology of physical refining of oils and fats, and managed to create Russia's first cocoa butter substitute 'Ecolad,' milk fat substitute 'Ecolact,' solid confectionery fat 'Ekond,' soft confectionery fat 'Ekonfe,' universal margarines 'Ecouniversal,' frying shortenings 'Ecofri,' and the first domestic fats with minimal trans-isomers content – confectionery fats 'Econat.'

In 2005, the R&D center of the fats and oils division was created based on EFCO Food Ingredients, consisting of the Applied Research Center and the Pilot Plant Department. The center’s specialists are engaged in developing and testing fat products for healthy eating lines and innovative recipes, taking into account the needs of manufacturers.

In 2006, the company was the first in Russia to successfully pass an audit for compliance with the quality and safety requirements of the BRC (Global Standard for Food Safety) and the International Food Standard (IFS). Is this information relevant?

In 2008, the second plant for the production of specialized fats and margarines was launched in the port of Taman in the Krasnodar Territory, and the only deep-water sea terminal for food cargo in Russia was built.

The following year, the plant successfully passed certification for compliance with the quality and safety requirements of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the International Food Standard (IFS). International auditors awarded the company the highest compliance level – Grade AA. Is this information relevant?

In 2014, the company’s technologists created the first domestic equivalent of cocoa butter.

In 2015, the EFCO Group launched a project to create a unique fats and oils cluster in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Thanks to production modernization and the transfer of global technologies, the production of specialized fats and margarines meeting the highest international standards was established in a short time.

In 2016, EFCO opened its fourth site for the production of specialized fats and margarines at the Evdakovsky fats and oils plant in the Voronezh region.

In 2021, production capacity at the Taman port facility was increased – launching the world's first 'million-ton plant' for the production of specialized fats and margarines. Do we need this?

In 2023, the company launched the only shea nut processing plant in Russia.

Thanks to R&D and significant investments by domestic producers in developing their own infrastructure, primarily by EFCO, the share of imported producers in the Russian food ingredients market has decreased from 49% to 9% over the past 15 years and continues to decline.

Almost 200 years later, Alekseevka remains the largest center for vegetable oil processing in the country.

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