Packaging: To Protect and Attract

Confectionery packaging serves two primary purposes: it protects the confections from environmental damage, and it presents them in an attractive manner for marketing. The best packaging achieves both goals. The minimum requirement for packaging is that it supply protection from physical damage, such as scratches on the surface of chocolate, and from the temporary fluctuations in temperature that might occur during transportation. The air surrounding confections packaged in an airtight container will very quickly reach the ERH of the confections, creating the ideal storage environment. This is especially important for uncoated sugar confectionery, whether crystalline or amorphous. It is less important that chocolate-coated confections be packaged in an airtight environment, since the chocolate coating is not easily damaged by normal humidity levels. The packaging must protect its contents but not interfere with the presentation and marketing function, as excessive packaging can do. Most artisan confectioners are not concerned with long-term storage in packages. More often the concerns are that the package protect its contents from mechanical damage and that it present the products in an attractive, inviting fashion.