PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE
YOU, when you first tasted a delicious brittle kernel of Pop-corn,
coated thinly with candy, you did not think of the skill attained by
practise, the skill that was necessary in order that your piece of
pop-corn confection might have the right amount of candy on each kernel
of pop-corn and the kernel be of its original full-sized fluffiness.
It is an operation that appeared to you as simple and easy of
accomplishment when you first saw it performed in the hands of an
expert. Then when you tried it? Well, you had “An experience.”
You found that somehow the corn did not act for you the same as for him.
It did just what you did not expect it to do. It formed into one big
ball of condensed pop-corn. Or it became cold before you got it really
mixed and you could not then mould it into confection; or instead of
the kernels being of their natural large, fluffy nature, you probably
found you had ground them to one-half their natural bulk. In other
words, you found you had something to learn and you were up against a
man’s job. No, you did not give up, but you “cleared for action,” or in
other words you stripped off the coat from your mind as well as from
your back and studied and tried, studied and tried, until you had the
principles, then by practise you acquired speed.
Pop-corn confection is made from the starting of a batch to the
completed confection while the original heat is in that batch. A batch
of candy is solid compared to a batch of pop-corn, so that a batch of
candy may be held to a working temperature by keeping the batch near
a fire, while pop-corn cannot be so handled, it must be worked in
small batches at a speed to reach the finished confection while the
original heat lasts. The working of candy and the heat in it has a
tendency to turn the candy back to sugar--that is, to grain it. Candy
coated pop-corn, to get the brittle, perfect confection--that is not
grained--must be finished confection, while the candy coating is still
hot. You see, then, the great advantage to be realized in using the
quickest method. Knott’s machines are recognized as the best for the
speed that produces quality.
As one item in the process of manufacture, consider the mixing of the
corn and candy.
Hot air rises and cold air descends; you know that, but did you ever
consider that it has a lot to do with your results in making pop-corn?
You know that popped corn is light and fluffy and air passes through
the collection of kernels easily. Think of how hot a kernel must be
to pop and yet you know that it is hardly any time at all before the
kernel is cold. The air surrounding the kernel is heated by the hot
kernel: that air rises and is replaced by cooler air which in turn
extracts the heat from the kernel and so the process continues with
speed until the kernel is the same temperature as the air.
You have often used the pouring of a liquid to more rapidly cool it.
You have lifted spoonful after spoonful of coffee letting it run off
the spoon to cool it. Did it ever occur to you that the pouring of the
hot, boiling syrup onto the pop-corn in a mixing tank is a cooling
process? Because of hot air ascending and cool air descending, that
candy that you would thus pour onto the pop-corn will cool at a most
rapid rate while you are getting the candy kettle out of the way and
your paddle down into the batch to mix the corn and candy. The doing
away with this pouring of the candy is necessary to the production of
the best goods. You can eliminate it by cooking the candy in a deep
kettle and pouring the pop-corn into that kettle on top of the candy
and mixing the batch in that kettle.
[Illustration: ‡Man stirring contents of a bucket]
To coat a kernel of pop-corn with candy is not only for the purpose of
tickling the sense of taste, but by the use of that thin covering of
candy you keep the dampness out of the kernel. To be most effective,
the coating must completely enclose each kernel and yet for the
confection to be of the most delicate and brittle texture you must have
but the least film of a coating of candy covering each kernel and every
kernel the same as every other. To get the best results, you must use
the one best method of manufacture.
If without any time passing, that is, instantaneously, you could
distribute the candy at the instant it reached the point to which you
boil it, the candy then being at its most liquid state, if you could
distribute the candy thus instantly over the kernels, you would have
the ideal thin coating of candy over each kernel of pop-corn. You would
have the most delicious piece of confection you ever set your teeth
into.
When mixing by hand, one-half of the time is used in the down stroke
of the paddle, which, of course, is necessary before you can make the
up stroke, or lift the paddle to mix the corn. Yet, of course, that
uses valuable time during which the batch is cooling. A machine so
constructed as to have a rotating paddle always under the corn to lift
the corn up the sides of the kettle and guiding it to fall down the
center of the kettle, such a machine uses no time in return strokes and
mixes the batch almost instantaneously.
At this point in our consideration of the subject, let us see what we
have learned.
It is best to mix the candy and pop-corn in the way that will be the
=quickest=, =the quickest way= being to boil the candy in a deep kettle
and mix the batch in that same kettle by the use of a pop-corn mixing
machine.
[Illustration: ‡Man operating a mechanical mixer]
Now suppose you use this method for mixing the batch, what size batch
will produce the greatest profit?
You know with pop-corn confection, =the lighter it is, the better it
is=. Of course the lighter it is the less material to the piece and
the greater the profit. The size of batch you make has an important
effect on the lightness of the confection.
Candy coating of the pop-corn must be soft when the cakes are pressed
in order to have the cake well held together when cooled. You are
cooking above 280 degrees, so your candy must be at a high temperature
when the cakes are pressed to attain the result. At that temperature,
the candy changes quickly from a plastic to a brittle condition. A
batch is too large when the last of it to be moulded is too cool to
produce good light confection.
The batch may be kept from cooling so fast by keeping it enclosed in a
heated tank, but watch the results and don’t expect this to help much.
You must have the tank open to take out the corn to fill the moulds and
while it is open there is bound to be a rush of hot air out of the tank
and a rush of cold air into it on the principle discussed in the first
part of this article. This movement of air takes the heat out of the
batch at a fast rate so that it counteracts the effect of the heating
of the tank.
One good way is to use the hot kettle you mix your batch in to hold the
batch while you scoop the corn out onto the moulds. The quickest way
if you are using a set of moulds is for you to arrange the moulds on
the bench, make a batch just the right size, dump the batch on top of
the moulds and fill them. Then put them through the press. This has the
advantage of getting the corn into the moulds at once while the candy
coating is soft.
When the candy coating of the kernels is too cool when put in the
moulds and pressed, the whole kernels will be broken and you will get
so much corn into each mould that the cake will be solid, hard to bite
into and heavy.
You see it pays better to run small batches. Your cakes will be light
and fluffy and therefore better liked by the consumer. Your materials
will make more goods. A day’s work on this plan will show the greatest
profit.
Consider the utensils used by this method.
Only two kettles, so you have one on the fire while you are mixing in
the other. You have no jacket tank to clean, to grease, with the cost
of the grease, to heat by gas, with the cost of the gas. The use of the
pop-corn mixing machine in this method assures the same sized cakes
being made of less material. The same material produces at least 20
per cent. more finished confection because of the quick and complete
mixing.