Methods of covering frozen food products in chocolate

1 . A process of applying an untempered chocolate coating onto pieces of a frozen food product to form a thin layer of the chocolate coating completely enrobing each piece of the frozen food product and prevent condensation from forming on the chocolate coating, the process comprising:

obtaining pieces of the frozen food product;

obtaining an untempered chocolate containing cocoa butter, a plurality of coconut inclusions, no more than about 0.6% coconut oil by weight, and no butter;

applying a layer of the untempered chocolate by conveying the pieces of the frozen food product along an enrobing belt under a curtain of the untempered chocolate, wherein the untempered chocolate is maintained at a temperature between about 37.8° C. and about 43.3° C. and the enrobing belt travels at a speed of between about 5 m/m and about 15 m/m, to envelop each piece of the frozen food product in a chocolate coating thereby creating pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product;

conveying the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product along a vibrating perforated belt having pressurized air passing up through the belt to remove all the chocolate coating in excess of a thin layer between about 1 mm and about 2 mm thick of each piece;

flash cooling the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product to a temperature below 1.7° C.;

freezing the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product to a temperature below −18° C.; and

rapidly packaging the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product at a temperature between about 0° C. and about 10° C. to prevent condensation from forming on each piece of the completely enrobed frozen food product.

2 . The process as recited in claim 1 , wherein the frozen food product is a fruit.

3 . The process as recited in claim 1 , wherein the frozen food product is a piece of pineapple.

4 . The process as recited in claim 1 , wherein the chocolate coating comprises a white chocolate.

5 . The process as recited in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of coconut inclusions is a plurality of solid, desiccated, unsulfated, medium gem coconut inclusions.

6 . The process as recited in claim 1 , wherein the chocolate coating further comprises coconut flavored seed oil.

7 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the packaging of the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product is performed at a temperature below 4° C.

8 . The process as recited in claim 5 , wherein the plurality of solid, desiccated, unsulfated, medium gem coconut inclusions is present in an amount between about 0% and about 6% by weight of the chocolate coating.

9 . The process as recited in claim 5 , wherein the plurality of solid, desiccated, unsulfated, medium gem coconut inclusions is present in an amount equal to about 3% by weight of the chocolate coating.

10 . The process as recited in claim 6 , wherein the coconut flavored seed oil is present in an amount between about 0.01% and about 0.6% by weight of the chocolate coating.

11 . The process as recited in claim 6 , wherein the coconut flavored seed oil is present in an amount equal to about 0.3% by weight of the chocolate coating.

12 . The process as recited in claim 1 , further comprising cooling the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product to a temperature between about 1.7° C. and about 7.2° C. prior to flash cooling the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product.

13 . The process as recited in claim 12 , wherein cooling the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product to a temperature between about 1.7° C. and about 7.2° C. is achieved by conveying the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product along a cooling belt, traveling at a speed between about 6 m/m and about 10 m/m, to harden the chocolate coating along a bottom surface of each piece of the completely enrobed frozen food product.

14 . The process as recited in claim 1 , wherein the flash cooling of the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product to a temperature below 1.7° C. is achieved by conveying the pieces of enrobed frozen food product along a second cooling belt, traveling at a speed between about 6 m/m and about 10 m/m.

15 . The process as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

providing pieces of frozen food product onto a sorting belt, wherein the sorting belt comprises wire mesh with openings that are large enough to allow small pieces of the frozen food product to pass through the openings and to create space between individual pieces of the frozen food product.

16 . The process as recited in claim 15 , wherein the sorting belt is traveling at a speed between 4 m/m and 10 m/m.

17 . The process as recited in claim 1 , wherein the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product are flash frozen in an Individual Quick Frozen (IQF) unit at a temperature below −18° C., wherein the IQF unit comprises a perforated belt having frozen air blowing up through the perforated belt, and causing the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product to lift off the perforated belt and separate from other pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product.

18 . A process of applying untempered chocolate onto pieces of frozen food product to form a thin layer of a chocolate coating and prevent condensation from forming on the chocolate coating, the process comprising:

providing pieces of frozen food product onto a sorting belt that is traveling at a speed between 4 m/m and 10 m/m, wherein the sorting belt comprises wire mesh with openings that are large enough to allow small pieces of the frozen food product to pass through the openings and to create space between individual pieces of the frozen food product;

applying a layer of the chocolate coating by conveying the pieces of the frozen food product along an enrobing belt under a curtain of the chocolate coating, wherein the chocolate coating comprises (i) untempered chocolate containing cocoa butter, no more than about 0.6% coconut oil by weight, and no butter, and (ii) a plurality of coconut inclusions, and wherein the chocolate coating is maintained at a temperature between about 37.8° C. and about 43.3° C. and the enrobing belt travels at a speed of between about 5 m/m and about 15 m/m, to envelop each pieces of the frozen food product in the chocolate coating thereby creating pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product;

conveying the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product along a vibrating perforated belt having pressurized air passing up through the belt to remove all the chocolate coating in excess of a thin layer between about 1 mm and about 2 mm thick;

cooling the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product to a temperature between about 1.7° C. and about 7.2° C., by conveying the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product along a cooling belt, traveling at a speed between about 6 m/m and about 10 m/m, to harden the chocolate coating along a bottom surface of each piece of the completely enrobed frozen food product;

flash cooling the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product in a rapid cooling tunnel at a temperature below 1.7° C.;

flash freezing the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product in an Individual Quick Frozen (IQF) unit at a temperature below −18° C., wherein the IQF unit comprises a perforated belt having frozen air blowing up through the perforated belt, and causing the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product to lift off the perforated belt and separate from other pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product; and

rapidly packaging the flash frozen pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product at a temperature between about 0° C. and about 10° C. to prevent condensation from forming on the pieces of completely enrobed frozen food product.