Good weather, walks in the parks, candy floss - a nice and organic picture, right? With the advent of summer, more and more small shopping stalls appear on the streets where popcorn and candy floss are prepared with customers.
Such a treat is quickly prepared, it is convenient to eat and it greatly brightens up leisure time, especially if you are walking with children. Street selling candy floss and popcorn is a great seasonal way to make money. In this article we will talk more about the principles of creating the final product, about equipment, brands and consumables.
Cotton candy and popcorn raw materials
Any, even the most expensive and high-quality equipment for making cotton candy and popcorn will not cope with the task if you use low-quality consumables.
Popcorn is made from special grains of grain, which are characterized by:
- The degree of disclosure. One of the most important indicators, since the ratio of weight and volume of finished products depends on it.
- The ratio of open and unopened grains. The smaller the latter, the lower the cost of production.
- Humidity. It should not exceed 14% - a larger percentage will negatively affect disclosure.
- Durability. An important indicator if the popcorn is covered with caramel or stored for some time.
For cooking popcorn, special vegetable oil is used - often it is pure coconut oil or a mixture. The main indicator is the ability to work at high temperatures without combustion and child.
Special blends are used to add extra flavor to popcorn. Depending on the composition, they can provide the corn with the familiar salty taste, or caramel, chocolate, berry, etc.
The raw materials that use cotton candy equipment are trivial - ordinary sugar. In order to enrich the taste of the product, flavor additives are used. They are a mixture of food colors and flavors. Working proportion - 2 tbsp. tablespoons per 4.5 kg of sugar.
How to cook popcorn?
Creation of popcorn is based on short-term strong heating and the subsequent addition of toppings (sweet or salty). The average sequence of actions is as follows:
- Fully assemble the device, focusing on the accompanying documentation;
- Turn on the popcorn maker.
- Wait 4-6 minutes (only necessary at first start-up).
- Put 57 grams of special popcorn oil (usually coconut based) in the cauldron. The weight of the oil should be approximately one third of the weight of the dry grain.
- Add dry grain (168-170 grams) to the oil.
- Add to the grain a sweet additive to taste - gram 85, i.e., half the weight of the grain. If you use special salt, then it will need 5-7 grams (1 teaspoon).
- Close the boiler lid, wait until the popcorn is fully opened.
- Tilt the boiler and make sure that there is no grain left in it.
- Repeat all operations as many times as necessary to complete the sale.
- At the last load, as soon as the finished corn grains lift the boiler lid, turn off the heat to prevent burning smell.
How is candy floss prepared?
Using professional equipment for the production of cotton candy, you can easily learn how to cook this treat. A little skill and even edible flowers will become subject to you. The general principle of operation is as follows:
- Fully assemble the machine, focusing on the accompanying documentation.
- Place the cotton candy sticks in a container of cold water - during operation, their surface must be moist, otherwise the cotton candy will not stick.
- Pour about 4.5 tbsp. tablespoons of sugar. If you wish, you can pre-mix sugar with flavoring additives.
- Turn on the button that starts the rotation of the head, and set the heat to minimum. Ten begins to heat up and slowly melt the sugar.
- As soon as you hear a crack and a caramel smell appears in the air, you can start work.
- Pull the sticks out of the container one at a time, and rotate along the casing with it - the candy floss equipment will create fibers from heated caramel that you must collect on a stick.
- Once you have wound 79-80% of the desired size of cotton wool - turn off the heater. Another 12-16 seconds of cotton wool will fly out of the device, which will allow you to complete the job.
- Feed cotton to the customer only in an upright position!
Technique for making street food from China
Most of the equipment used in the process of making candy floss and popcorn is produced in China. This technique is characterized by an attractive appearance and a very affordable price.
According to street vendors who sell this type of product, machinery from China is designed for one season. That is, equipment for cotton candy and popcorn is purchased in the middle of spring, intensively works the whole period until the end of autumn, after which it is thrown out.
Such actions are associated with a low level of wear resistance of Chinese products - repairs in the end are more expensive than a new device. And so all the investments paid off, the seller made a profit and is ready to repeat the whole cycle of actions next season.
The following brands are most popular among manufacturers:
- Airhot
- Starfood
- PYHL;
- Gastrotop;
- Viatto.
All of them, according to traders' reviews, work efficiently, are easy to maintain and do not require service intervention.
Cotton candy and popcorn equipment. Russia
Demand always naturally causes supply, and Russian manufacturers did not stand aside. Candy floss making machines still existed on the territory of the USSR, so it was no surprise to them, but the popcorn preparation technique was added to the assortment, using the design ideas of Western colleagues. Experts recommend paying attention to the range of the following brands:
They offer equipment of various capacities, which allows you to choose individual solutions for each individual object.
According to users, equipment for cotton candy and Russian-made popcorn is more expensive than its Chinese counterparts, but it has the best build quality and high level of wear resistance. All these characteristics allow working on the products of companies from Russia for years without loss of quality. Yes, service intervention is periodically required, but it relates more to regular maintenance than to repair.
Equipment for the production of cotton candy and popcorn. USA
Objectively, the best and most reliable technique for making this street food comes from the United States.
Impeccable build quality and consumables, attractive appearance. Only one minus is the high price.
The purchase of American equipment is justified if you experience a stable need for a large number of finished products. It is most in demand among owners of entertainment centers, cinemas, etc. If this applies to you, we recommend that you pay attention to the brands:
The highest quality equipment for making candy floss and popcorn. Serves for decades without losing its performance characteristics.
Final packaging and sale
So, you purchased candy floss equipment. Reviews about the manufacturers helped and you chose exactly the technique that suits you. Prepared the final product. What to pack them before giving to customers?
Suppliers selling grain, additives, etc. often include packaging in their assortment. For popcorn, it can be:
- Cardboard glasses. The most popular are the V-24, V-32 models. It will be convenient to hold them in the hands of children from 9-10 years old.
- Greaseproof paper bags. Miniature, perfect for younger children.
Candy floss does not need special packaging - everything is limited to the stick on which it holds.
Large-scale production
Popcorn can be produced in the workshop, packaged in standard bags and sold in retail outlets along with chips, snacks and more.
Such an activity implies a more thorough technique with increased productivity - these are not just compact cute machines that you can install directly on the work stand, but full-fledged production lines that can produce up to 67 kg of ready-made popcorn per hour.
Such equipment is delivered to order in accordance with the needs of the customer. The line is modular and may include:
- machines for making popcorn ;
- neutral work surfaces and supports;
- separators, designed to separate from unopened popcorn corn grain of corn;
- oil dispensers;
- dispensers for toppings;
- mixers for mixing finished popcorn with toppings.