maltesers

[helen79]

how do they get them so round? surely there should be a flat part somewhere??

[nickmo]

Cooked in a partial vacuum so the air in the malt puffs up when cooked. The 'balls' are formed from a honeycomb dough that is rolled between two rollers with the round dimples that make the ball shape and the balls are then cut out, the rest of the off cut being crushed and made back into new 'balls'.

As the process is on a rolling track, this seperates those maltesers with flat spots - so they don't make it into the packs - after having been coated in choc of course by having the choc sprayed on by atomisers, and as they travel through the choc mist it makes sure there are no edges. The choc dries almost immediately as it is bery fine and also cools quickly.

The pectin coating is a self polishing process - as the balls roll together the surface gets all shiny - unlike a normal choc bar that uses cristalysation to give a smooth surface, not a shiny one.

The filling is the same stuff as used in Horlicks by the way - both factories are very close by (and really stink - what on earth else goes into them?) using malt and milk powder and some salt.

Or is it a thousand little elves and lots of sandpaper in a factory at the north pole after all . . ?

[sense4all]

Engage sense of humour or go no further ........

I used to pass the Mars factories twice a day, lol @ Nickmo : Elves they ain't. More like Gremlins my love!

[nickmo]

No no no no no and again , no. Elves are the only ones that can handle the hot malt centre. Gremlins fingers are too sensitive. They get all blistered up too easily so behave and don't confuse the peeps. . .

And be honest, sense - was it the fumes from them that got to you? Used to pass them myself too - I was told that if you had a place at the Mars factory the first thing you were told was eat all you like. I don't think anyone ate a Mars bar ever again. . .

[sense4all]

I would not like to hold only 'Uncle Forest' Mars to book for my interesting mental condition. I did get interviewed for their graduate management programme. I tell you two days there ,with unlimited access, to the goodies is enough to cure you! Although I do believe ,imho, the SAS are a little more 'cuddly' with their selection process! lol.

Only the Lord alone knows what wafted through my office window on the worlds largest trading estate, opp the Burtons biscuit factory, to make me the unique, well balanced individual ,before you today.

Our school used to have a tour round the Mars facilities for the visiting foreign exchange students ... then someone invented the HSE, and it was forbidden tout-suite! Those were the days.

Apoligies to helen79 for mini hi-jack. But nickmo's first answer was splendid and complete.

[rockyracoon]

Nickmo what happens to the ones that have flat bits and don't make it? Do they sell them off cheap?

[nickmo]

Hi rocky - I gather that as they are made on a travelling belt, as the round ones make it to the end, any with flat spots are removed form the system and get ground up to become new mix for the next baking - before coating with choc, of course.

You do get once in a while 2 stuck together in a bag but you'll find more often than not that they are 2 round ones - not 2 with flat sides that got stuck - and they pair up after the choc spraying finish.

. . . or the elves just eat them in the factory. . . . . loads of large people in Slough - now you know why . . .

[rockyracoon]

Darn it, I was hoping to go down the market for some cheap rejects