I'm two and a half months into my graduate placement in Science and Technology, working in new product development and I'm definitely in information overload! You wouldn't think there was so much to learn about chocolate, but trust me there is. So to facilitate me in my learning I obviously had to visit the chocolate capital of the world - Belgium! The purpose of the trip was to learn all about the theory of chocolate making and so I learnt about a industry method called tempering which allows us to gain a perfect glossy finish to our chocolate and I also learnt loads about what ingredients to use to obtain the perfect melt, texture and taste in our chocolate. It was a pretty heavy going 3 days of lectures but well worth it - especially when i was sent home with more chocolate than I could carry!
So it was home for the weekend from Belgium but not for too long as I was straight off to France to meet with our French colleagues to learn all about sugar confectionary (sugar confectionary is any sweets where the main ingredient is sugar i.e. Wine Gums, Jelly Babies, Marshmallows, Caramels etc). In this week long course I learnt all the theory regarding the best ingredients to use and the functionality of the ingredients, and I also participated in lots of practical work to really understand how the products are manufactured and what problems can arise. The course also provided an opportunity to network with other Cadbury Science and Technology people which is always useful when you need help and advice with any projects your having difficulties with. Once again I was sent home with copious amounts of sweeties.
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