How are chocolate raisins made?

Chocolate raisins are raisins coated in a shell of milk, dark or white chocolate. In the United Kingdom they are sold in sweet shops, in sharing bags and, around Christmas, in boxes with milk, white and dark coatings. They are made by chocolate panning, the same family of methods that coats jelly beans and sugared almonds: see what is sugar panning?

How it is done

The steps below follow a guide to chocolate panning by Andy Baxendale in the trade magazine Confectionery Production, and a panning guide from the California raisin industry:

1. Load the pan. The raisins go into a rotating pan, a drum that tumbles them so they roll and cascade over one another. One guide rotates 20 pounds of raisins at 20 to 25 revolutions a minute.
2. Seal the centres. A coat of gum arabic glaze followed by a dusting of icing sugar seals the raisins before the chocolate goes on.
3. Add chocolate, little by little. Chocolate at about 40 to 45°C is added in small amounts, in the raisin guide about one pound of coating at a time for every 20 pounds of raisins, so each layer spreads evenly.
4. Cool each layer. Cool, dry air sets each layer before the next goes on. Baxendale recommends 12 to 14°C at 45 per cent humidity or less.
5. Build it up. The layers are repeated until the coating is thick enough. The raisin guide suggests about equal weights of raisin and coating for the best contrast in texture.
6. Rest. The coated raisins are taken out, sifted and left overnight on trays in a cold, dry store.
7. Polish and glaze. A standard polish is three coats, dried between each one, and a final glaze seals the shine.

The shine and the glaze

That glaze can be shellac, a resin made by the lac insect, or, for vegan products, zein, a protein from maize: see what is shellac on sweets? and glazing agents explained. Baxendale calls panning a combination of science and art.

White and yoghurt coatings

White chocolate and yoghurt coatings are handled a little differently. The raisin guide heats them to about 41 to 46°C, until they are fluid enough to spread evenly.

A long running sweet

Raisinets, the earliest well known brand, were introduced in the United States in 1927 by the Blumenthal Chocolate Company. In Australia the same sweet is usually called chocolate covered sultanas. Chocolate peanuts are a similar sweet, and the two are often mixed together.

Allergens

Milk and white chocolate raisins contain milk, one of the 14 allergens: see milk in sweets. Our Milk Chocolate Raisins card opens up to show the full ingredients and allergen information.

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