Panned Items or Dragees. Panned products or dragees are a type of confectionery that typically has some centre wrapped with chocolate, rounded, and often times finished with a hard candy shell. They have become increasingly popular in recent years. Pastry chefs around the world are tumbling anything and everything in chocolate. No longer will you be limited to chocolate-covered almonds, peanuts, and raisins that come in small packages called Glosettes. Nowadays, pastry chefs and chocolatiers are panning things like cereal, puffed grains, toffee, gummies with various flavour combinations and finishing them with different colours, creating a sophisticated version of the treat we all know and love. However, taking something that is done in the commercial world and trying to refine it, a few issues arise:

1) Public perception. Why would I pay $12/jar for chocolate covered raisins when I can buy Glosettes? Many consumers may not be aware of (or care about) the differences: 1) We use high-quality ingredients and sustainable chocolate. 2) We pan in smaller batches, not done autonomously with machines.

2) Time. There are limitations to the batch size since we are using small tabletop panners. For something small like coffee beans, it takes as long as 4 hours just to get it to the right size.

3) Money. Unless you’re buying hundreds of kilos, nuts and high-quality chocolate can be quite expensive.

4) Lack of knowledge. We are still missing some trade secrets to get the ultimate shine. It’s also sometimes preferable to avoid the use of commercial finishes like a shellac (made with crushed up beetles – not everyone’s cup of tea!).

5) Exposure to resources. Glazes and polish are sold by 18L pails with a relatively short shelf life. Since the amount required per batch is quite small, it doesn’t make sense to buy them since we’ll need to throw most of it out.

6) Co-packing. Outsourcing the production to a third party can help to resolve some of the above challenges, but this raises the question: is it artisan any more?

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