ACRE
The Science of Sweet Treats – USC Viterbi
The Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science has recently launched a new confectionery manufacturing class. Image/Alexander Grey
A chemical engineering lab is not exactly where you’d expect to encounter the scent of rich caramel and the simmer of delicious molten chocolate. USC’s Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science has switched out beakers and pipettes for hard candy and nougat, harnessing the expertise of an industry-leading confectionery expert to lead the department’s new Confectionery Manufacturing class.
Eyal Ben-Yoseph is a process development engineer who has spent over two decades conjuring up some of your favorite sweet treats, leading the Breakthrough Technology team at Mars Wrigley. As part of his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, Ben-Yoseph worked on a project with Kellogg’s where he harnessed computer models to ensure each Frosted Flake has the perfect level of snowy white frosting. At Mars, he was also instrumental in creating custom, personalized M&Ms. Now he brings his extensive experience to USC Viterbi, where he developed the new confectionery course for the Mork Department.
Ben-Yoseph and his students have been taking the base ingredient fundamental to all confectionery — sugar — and studying how engineering processes such as reactions and phase transitions can shape it into the wildly different forms, flavors and textures that make up the confectionery we know and love — from sugar shell candies such as M&Ms to chewy nougats, smooth fudges and soft fondants.
Eyal Ben-Yoseph teaching the confectionery engineering class. Image/William Wences.
“When we talk about candy, we’re talking about chemistry,” Ben-Yoseph said. “We’re talking about phase transition. Sugar has two phase states – it can be amorphous, like glass, and it can be crystalline, where it’s white, like sugar powder.”
Ben-Yoseph said that chemical engineering students come to his class well-versed in the theory that forms the basis of confectionery manufacturing — concepts such as chemical reactions and transport phenomena.
“I come from industry, so I wanted to show them how you can take everything you learn in your theory and use it in fun applications, for example, cooling chocolate in a cooling tunnel. That’s an engineering problem.”
One of the key candy manufacturing processes that the students learn is how to temper chocolate, a process of precise heating and cooling to stabilize and harden it into a glossy-surfaced product that doesn’t immediately melt in your hand but can be snapped into pieces ideal for sharing.
Ben-Yoseph said another of the unique challenges of confectionery manufacturing is ensuring the end product maintains a long shelf life.
“The important thing is microbial, chemical and physical stability. You don’t want your candy to change its properties like taste, appearance, or texture or get spoiled. You want it to maintain quality for a long time,” Ben-Yoseph said. “Take the Twix, for example. You don’t want the biscuit inside to be soggy. How do you make sure that the water doesn’t flow from the caramel to the biscuit? We talk to the students about modeling this moisture transfer. One trick is to coat your biscuit with something fatty because fat and water won’t mix.”
Chemical engineering students pour fudge onto the cooling surface. Image/William Wences.
Ben-Yoseph also challenges his students to think about their products from a consumer standpoint. Confectionery manufacturers must consider the public perception of ingredients such as artificial colorants and how natural alternatives may be more expensive to produce, less stable, and less vibrant – problems that engineers in the food industry need to overcome.
“Consumers want sustainable products and sustainable packaging. There’s so much work for a chemical engineer just thinking about developing reusable, recyclable, or upcycled packaging and reducing production energy and waste,” Ben-Yoseph said.
When piloting the course, Ben-Yoseph and his students needed to be creative in their improvised lab setup. But they soon discovered that you didn’t require elaborate equipment to create culinary magic – everything can be achieved in a home kitchen. A simple slab of marble from Home Depot served as a cooling surface for chocolate and candy, while the students used small portable burners to cook.
Naturally, Ben-Yoseph and his class were on hand to taste-test the end products (for purely academic purposes, of course).
A successful experiment. Students create a range of delicious candies as part of the confectionery manufacturing course. Image/William Wences.
“It’s part of the job, you know. Somebody has to do it.” Ben-Yoseph laughed. “They need to make sure the taste and texture are right and to write their lab report, describing what they did and anything that went wrong. To evaluate the quality of the product.”
Ben-Yoseph said that chemical engineering students are at a unique advantage for in-demand careers in the food industry, with their theoretical background and knowledge of fields like AI and data science, which can transform the industry.
“When you talk about data science, the food industry is a little bit behind compared to other industries, like petroleum and pharmaceuticals. But this is an opportunity for chemical engineering graduates to come and apply their knowledge, contribute, and make a difference,” Ben-Yoseph said.
CHE 499: Confectionery Manufacturing will take place once again during Spring 2025.
Published on October 29th, 2024
Last updated on October 30th, 2024
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Ufac e SEE discutem disponibilização de produtos educacionais para professores da rede estadual — Universidade Federal do Acre
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Ufac inaugura núcleo de apoio administrativo às coordenações de curso — Universidade Federal do Acre
Alunas de graduação e mestrado do campus Floresta da Ufac criaram, em 2024, o projeto Biblioteca de Kene, que reúne tecelagem em algodão, pintura corporal, registros audiovisuais e uma plataforma digital acessível por celular. A iniciativa surgiu do trabalho de conclusão de curso de Txima Huni Kuin, em Licenciatura Indígena, e da pesquisa para a dissertação de Alexandra Deitos no programa de pós-graduação em Ensino de Humanidades e Linguagens.
Txima investigou a tecelagem como expressão dos conhecimentos, da arte e da espiritualidade de seu povo, sob orientação do professor Amilton Pelegrino de Mattos. Alexandra, artista visual e atualmente doutoranda, colaborou na construção do projeto por meio de uma pesquisa de autoria coletiva, desenvolvida com as mulheres da comunidade.
Desse encontro surgiu a proposta de criar um espaço onde os mais de 60 grafismos praticados pelas mulheres pudessem ser consultados, ensinados e aprendidos por jovens e mestras tecelãs. O projeto terá uma nova etapa entre 10 e 16 de outubro, com a realização da 2ª Oficina de Kene da Aldeia Arco-Íris, na terra indígena Seringal Independência, no município de Jordão (AC).
Aprendizagem no território
Durante os sete dias de oficina, mestras tecelãs e jovens aprendizes participarão de atividades de preparação de fios, cantos rituais, aplicação do Bawe e tecelagem de painéis com grafismos. Os processos serão documentados para compor o acervo da biblioteca na aldeia e seu site colaborativo, com gestão do conhecimento pelas próprias mulheres.
A proposta dialoga com a expressão “a universidade é na aldeia”, do professor e pesquisador Yube Huni Kuin, também acadêmico da Licenciatura Indígena da Ufac. A experiência reconhece o território e as práticas da comunidade como espaços de produção e transmissão de conhecimento.
A 2ª Oficina de Kene é realizada por Txima Huni Kuin, Alexandra Deitos e pela Aldeia Arco-Íris, com apoio do curso de Licenciatura Indígena, da Fundação de Cultura Elias Mansour, do governo do Acre, da Política Nacional Aldir Blanc de Fomento à Cultura, do Ministério da Cultura e do governo federal.
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