Ærø (Denmark)
The licorice from Hattesens Konfektfabrik is handmade using traditional methods on the tiny Danish island of Ærø in South Funen. Denmark's only handmade licorice confectionary is vegan, free of gluten, lactose and allergens. Its taste comes from Danish summer berries, exotic southern fruits and cocoa beans. The flavors are packed on both sides of a center core made of 10% raw licorice.
They only use top-quality ingredients, dried fruit and berries, as well as natural oils and flavorings.
Hattesens Konfektfabrik is a project supported by the EU rural development fund (LAG).
To ensure the high quality, in addition to superior craftsmanship, Hattesens rely on first-class equipment on their production lines. They initially came into contact with Forbo via Transilon, as the first fabric belt they used from a different supplier didn’t provide the product release characteristics they required. Once Forbo had solved this problem thanks to the superior release properties of its E 3/1 X0/U2D MT-HACCP-FF FDA, it was also the go-to contact for the company’s next conveyor challenge.
After licorice is turned into squares, it needs to dry before the packaging stage. To lock in the flavors of fresh fruit and berries, the product must not be allowed to get warm. As a result, the only option is to dry it and ensure airflow with dry air – and allow for plenty of time.
Once the layers with the various flavors of licorice have been combined and cut into 16 x 16 mm squares, they need to dry for 24 hours before they are packed by hand and placed in the custom-designed round boxes.
The challenge was to find a belt to handle the licorice. The new series 18 was considered ideal as the surface, despite the large 44% open area to ensure the airflow required, still offers sufficient support to convey the small and delicate squares of licorice gently.
To prevent the drying process taking up too much room, a 20-tier spiral with a height difference of 3 meters is applied. It offers 160 meters or approx. 30 square meters of belt surface, which take up less than 7 square meters of floor space.
To offer consistently top quality, Hattesens applies stringent hygiene standards. Consequently, the easy-cleaning capability of the series 18 belts was another reason why they chose this belt for their spiral.
The spiral has now been in operation for more than 6 months and had no issues from day one. After the spiral has been fully packed with the delicious squares, it comes to a halt and the licorice is left in the closed spiral for 24 hours while the air is constantly exchanged.
During the 24 hours, the spiral is rotated 4 times in 90-degree increments. This is done to ensure all squares dry consistently. Normally, spirals are not used for this kind of indexing drive / start-stop operation but it’s working well without any problems.
After completing the drying process, the squares come off the S18 belt easily. Due to the good release properties and easy-clean design, the belt still appears clean and without any product residue months on.
Thanks to the increase in capacity offered by this new spiral, Claus Hattesen is confident it’s ready to face the upcoming high season – Christmas. During this period, special delicious treats are used as gifts and for many families this type of licorice is synonymous with the festive season spent with the family.
If further capacity’s required, Hattesen now has a proven solution and they are already discussing where to put the next S18 spiral.
