Sela Sweets

Candy Craftsmanship in Action

How we put stripes on Humbugs


	And here it is at last, one of the greatest mysteries of the world finally explained - how we put those distinctive black and white stripes (or any combination of colours required!) on our Humbugs!


	MIXING, CUTTING & KNEADING Once the syrup has settled for a while, the Candy Craftsman adds the mint flavouring (natural peppermint oil) to the whole of the mixture. At one end of the slab, he adds a spot of natural carbon black colour, and mixes this in. This part will go on to make the black stripes.


	Once the syrup has solidified where it is contact with the cooling table, the Candy Craftsman separates off the part containing the black colour from the rest of the uncoloured batch.


	Both parts are then kneaded by the Candy Craftsman to ensure the colour and flavour distribute themselves evenly around the batch.


	PULLING A small piece of uncoloured syrup is then cut away from the larger part of the batch and put on the "pulling machine" to turn it from clear to white opaque. This piece will go on the make the white stripes. The rest of the uncoloured batch will form the centre of the Humbug. All three constituent parts are further kneaded on the cooling table until they reach the right consistency for striping and assembly of the batch ready for extrusion and shaping. There is no measuring device to achieve this, just the touch of the Candy Craftsmen, and it takes years of experience to truly master.

STRIPING

The white and black pieces are then transferred from the cooling table to a hot table (electrically heated), so that the consistency they have reached is maintained. Both the white and black pieces are rolled out to form two long cylindrical shapes and are then placed side by side, stuck together and stretched out. You now have two stripes.

The two stripes are then stretched and cut in half. The resultant two pieces are then stuck together to produce four stripes.

The four stripes are then stretched, cut in half and stuck together to form eight stripes.

The eight stripes are then stretched, cut in half and stuck together, forming the final outer casing of the Humbug - sixteen stripes, eight of each colour.

The remainder of the batch (the uncoloured section) is then placed in the centre of this sixteen-striped outer casing, which is then wrapped around the centre to form what is in effect a giant Humbug!

EXTRUSION & SHAPING

The "giant humbug" is then placed in the forming line for extrusion and final shaping of the individual Humbugs. The first stage of this is called a "batch roller" and carries out the primary extrusion.

The second stage, the secondary extrusion, is performed by a machine called a "rope sizer", so called because it extrudes the humbug down into a "rope", the diameter of which determines the thickness of the finished humbugs.

The rope is then fed into a revolving die, which "punches" the shape of the finished Humbugs into the rope. These then travel along a conveyor to be fed onto a revolving carousel cooler.

WRAPPING AND PACKING

The Humbugs are then transferred onto a wrapping machine to have that familiar double-twist wrapping added to the outside.

The finished sweets are then sent for packing into either jars, bulk poly bags or pre-packs.

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