The impact of moulding and cooling process on the hardness and colour of praline couverture chocolate filled with water-based filling

Praline chocolate stability is highly influenced by the production process. Good quality praline has a smooth and shiny surface, without bubbles, cracks, and bloom. Stable
praline can be able to resist the migration of the filling so it has a longer shelf life. The aim of this research was to examine the influence of moulding temperature and shell formation time on the stability of praline couverture chocolate with water-based filling. The moulding
temperature used 3 temperature variations, namely 28ºC, 30ºC, 32ºC. Shell formation time used 2 variations, namely 5 and 15 minutes. Praline samples was matured at a storage
temperature of (16-20ºC) for 14 days. The chocolate quality parameters tested were hardness and colour (L*, a*, b*, C*, hº). Results showed that pralines molded at 32ºC were harder and had better colour appearance than the pralines moulded at 28ºC and 30ºC. This conditions also occur in the praline made with shell formation time of 15 minutes. Result of decision-making test using TOPSIS method showed that the best sample was T32 S15 praline with a preference value of 0.937.