BCH Equipment for Lees.

The confectionery manufactures, Lees of Scotland have recently installed an automatic mallow syrup cooking and cooling system from BCH Ltd, tel:[phone]. This equipment was provided as part of the production line for marshmallow teacakes and Snowballs at the company's Strathclyde manufacturing facility.

The Princess Royal officially opened their new manufacturing facilities, which cost some [pounds]5m., where this equipment is installed.

BCH have installed a 500kg batch steam jacketed cooker that is mounted on loadcells and incorporates fully automatic ingredient feed, cooking and vacuum cooling. By cooling the syrup from 105[degrees] to 55[degrees]C and transferring it in less than 15 minutes, the new vacuum cooling system has increased production rates by minimizing processing times, whilst still maintaining product integrity.

The actual process involves dissolving sugar and cooking it up to a controlled level of solids before adding gelatine, an emulsifier and albumen. The mallow syrup is held in a temperature-controlled vessel prior to feeding, at controlled and constant rates, to the aerator. This whole system makes use of PLC controls to sequence cooking and vacuum cooling to ensure total batch consistency, with recipes, held in the PLC's memory, being selected on-demand. Ingredient feed, sequencing, weighing and mixing are all fully automated.