CREAMING MACHINES

Creaming units/machines for the production of creamed honey

The modern food industry is constantly evolving, with new forms of familiar products emerging. This is driven by both aesthetics and the active promotion of traditional products, aiming to preserve or expand their consumer markets. One such product is creamed honey.

Creamed honey itself does not differ in its beneficial or nutritional properties from regular honey before processing, its distinctive feature is its creamy, paste-like structure.

Manufacturers and companies involved in honey processing often face the issue of honey crystallization during storage and sale, where honey loses its attractive consumer qualities (its smooth, liquid, flowing consistency). Many consumers react negatively to crystallized honey, perceiving it as "spoiled" because it becomes difficult to scoop from the container, let alone dose in confectionery production.

To address this, equipment has been developed that not only homogenizes honey but also turns its natural crystallization into an advantage. These creaming units are crystallizers where controlled crystallization, rather than random crystallization, takes place.

The advantage of creaming units is their ability to create a stable, aesthetically pleasing product that retains its consistency when stored under proper conditions and temperature. The honey doesn’t recrystallize and has an attractive color and texture, resembling sweetened condensed milk, with evenly sized small crystals. This results in a pasty honey product to which flavoring additives like berries or pectin can be added, expanding the product range and offering customers new flavored honey spreads while preserving all its natural nutrients.

Even though creamed honey is a relatively new product, a substantial amount of equipment for its production has already appeared on the market.

It’s important to distinguish between creaming and whipping honey. These are not always synonymous, even though this confusion can be found in descriptions online.

There are honey whipping units that produce a lighter-colored product with a cream-like texture, but this process doesn’t always involve crystallization. Whipping is a mechanical process that breaks honey crystals into smaller ones, but the process can be unstable. The honey can separate over time, with liquid honey settling at the bottom of the container. Whipping can also introduce air into the product, which can carry pathogens, reducing product appeal and potentially affecting shelf life by encouraging the growth of microorganisms.

Creaming units, on the other hand, use mechanical action to promote controlled crystallization, based on the desired end product. Before processing begins, a seed of creamed honey is added to guide the crystallization.

We produce three types of creaming units:

• Atmospheric
• Vacuum
• Cutter

Atmospheric units are offered by many companies, and the production time varies, but it is typically a long process, taking from one to several days, depending on the volume.

The standout feature of vacuum creaming units is their speed. You can produce creamed honey in just 4 hours! Vacuum creaming results in a denser, lighter product, as the vacuum accelerates the crystallization process and removes excess air during mixing.

Cutter units for controlled crystallization combine features of honey whipping equipment with crystallization. With cutters, you can create creamed honey soufflé, incorporating fruits and berries for a lighter, airier product.