Formulation, Recipes, and Recipe Scaling
This domain tests whether you can move confidently between a percentage formula, a batch sheet and a finished-goods specification, and whether you understand what is lost between them.
Core rules
- Decide the basis first. Formulas may be written as % of total batch, as parts per 100 of sugar, or as % of finished weight. Never mix bases in one calculation.
- If the formula does not total 100, normalise it: divide each ingredient by the total and multiply by 100.
- Scale by mass, not volume; bulk density of powders and lecithin changes with temperature and aeration.
- Account for evaporation and process loss. Water deliberately added is not the water in the finished sweet; the cook temperature sets final moisture. Yield = finished mass ÷ input mass.
- Minor ingredients behave differently: acid, colour, flavour and salt are usually dosed on finished weight or on pH, so they do not scale linearly with a sugar top-up.
- Record moisture targets by refractometer/Brix or by oven method, and state which method the specification uses.
Worked example
A 250 kg formula must be scaled to give 750 kg of saleable sweets, with 2 % anticipated loss.
- Scale factor to saleable mass: 750 ÷ 250 = 3.0.
- Gross up for loss: 750 ÷ 0.98 = 765.3 kg.
- True scaling factor: 765.3 ÷ 250 = 3.06.
- Apply 3.06 to every ingredient, then verify that the calculated solids and moisture still meet specification. Reasoning: scaling to the saleable figure alone would leave the plant 15 kg short of the order after losses.
Traps
- Confusing percentage points with per cent change.
- Forgetting that glucose syrup is only partly solids.
- Scaling flavour by batch size when the spec is ppm of finished sweet.
- Reporting a formula to 4 decimal places at plant scale - round to what the scale can actually weigh.