LU82676A1 - EXPANDED CEREAL PRODUCT CONTAINING CORN SOUND AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF - Google Patents

Description

i.

4

The present invention relates to a dry cereal, ready to eat and rich in fiber and its preparation process.

5 Recently, there has been an increased interest among dietitians and consumers for high-fiber food products, especially ready-to-eat and high-fiber cereals. At present, wheat bran is the main ingredient used to provide the high fiber content, for example in ready-to-eat cereals. However, some ready-to-eat cereal products made from commercially available wheat bran soak up and become pasty almost as soon as they are wet with milk. Still others are very hard, 15 and manage in the opposite excess not to be pleasant to eat, even in milk, because of a hardness which is prolonged.

On the other hand, large amounts of corn bran are available for use in fiber-rich food products for humans, such as ready-to-eat cereals. It would be very advisable to produce these fiber-rich cereal products using wheat bran as the source of fiber, in conventional expansion processes and equipment using cooking / extruding devices, such as those described in US patents. Nos 3.054.677 and 3.462.277. These methods and apparatus produce economically and at very high speeds a ready-to-eat, dry and modern cereal product with a pleasant and attractive appearance, for example a product the size of a mouthful or of a larger size. , that the average consumer ♦ is very keen to buy. The products are light, crunchy and brittle, and have a pleasant color and taste.

In such processes, an apparently dry mixture of ingredients is passed quickly through a cooking / extruding apparatus in which there is high pressure and temperature. The ingredients are quickly cooked, a dough forms and the dough is expelled through a constricted opening, for example by a series of dies, under conditions of high temperature and high pressure. The temperature and the pressure upstream of the dies are kept high enough to cause an abrupt decrease in pressure when the dough 5 is forced into the dies, with a sudden transformation of at least part of the water into water vapor in the mass of extruded dough to create small and large bubbles in the resulting product. This bubble formation in the extruded product is called "expansion". The expanded extruded dough goes through a temporary transient stage in which the dough is extremely coherent, sticky and flexible and, during the flash evaporation of additional quantities of water, the water content decreases and the pieces are immediately transformed into less sticky pieces. These pieces are then ♦ 15typically introduced into a stream of air at high temperature and speed, in which the drying step is completed and the dry pieces take on the very desired toasted appearance.

However, there is no technique available for producing an expanded extruded cereal using cornmeal bran as an ingredient in such a process.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a technology for producing ready-to-eat, expanded and extruded cereal products, using corn bran as an ingredient, product having very sensitive sensory characteristics. It is another object of the present invention to provide a ready-to-eat, expanded and high fiber cereal product using corn bran as the primary source of the additional fibers present.

The present invention provides a method for producing a dry, ready-to-eat, high fiber cereal product comprising the steps of: mixing with the ingredients of a cereal dough enough corn bran flour to give at least 1.5% fiber in said product, said corn bran flour having been ground to a fineness where 35 100% of said flour passes through a sieve with a mesh opening of 420 microns; cooking the ingredients in a cooking / extruding apparatus to form an extruded product under sufficiently high temperature and pressure conditions 3 to cause the extension of. the dough when it leaves the cooking / extrusion appliance; cutting the extruded dough product into separate pieces; and drying the resulting pieces to a water content of 2 to 3%.

The present invention further provides a dry expanded ready-to-eat cereal product produced in an expansion process in a cooking / extruding apparatus, said cereal comprising corn bran flour in sufficient quantity to yield 1.5 at 10.0% fiber content, limit value included, by weight relative to the weight of the product, said corn bran flour having been added to said product as an ingredient and which has been ground to a fineness where 100% of said corn bran flour passes through a sieve with a mesh opening of 15,420 microns.

According to the present invention, a ready-to-eat, expanded and extruded cereal product, using corn bran as an ingredient to provide additional fiber, is obtained in an otherwise conventional expansion process by cooking / extruding, but where the The corn bran ingredient has been ground to a granulation such that at least 100% pass through a sieve with a 420 micron mesh opening. In a preferred aspect, corn bran ingredients having a particle size such that 100% pass through a sieve with a 25 micron opening of 250 microns and 70% pass through a sieve with a 149 microns mesh opening are used. However, another preferred embodiment uses a particle size such that 100% pass through a 420 micron screen and 45% remain on a 250 micron screen. Although it has been discovered that there is no limit to the amount of extremely fine particles,. it is in fact preferred for economic reasons to use ingredients in which a substantial part, for example 40%, remains on a 250 micron sieve.

It has been found that the improved method according to the present invention can be used with any type of cooked cereal pasta ingredients, and in any method which uses a cooking / extruding apparatus and produces a cereal product. expanded by rapid decrease in pressure at time * 4 of the extruder outlet via a die.

A large number of such methods are well known in the art and, for example, those described in the aforementioned patents, and a large density range of the resulting products is obtained due to expansion by vaporization relatively small amounts of water that are present in the dough in the cooking / extruding appliance.

The use of corn bran directly from the dry milling process in such processes is totally unsuitable. Such ingredients cause erratic clogging of the dies, swelling of the dough in the extruder and the orifices and, more importantly, cause a very significant disintegration of the cereal pieces during and after the expansion. In addition, coarse crushing of the corn bran, for example so that a significant part of the bran just passes through a sieve with a mesh opening of 4.75 mm or more, although improving the problem of clogging of the orifices, nevertheless causes unacceptable swelling, as well as disintegration of the products during and immediately after expansion. It has been found that when the corn bran is ground to a fineness corresponding to the level indicated above or to a higher fineness, the problem of plugging of the orifices is totally eliminated, the swelling problem is totally eliminated and the problem of disintegration of the product during and after expansion is also eliminated. It has further been found that the resulting product receives better grades than commercially available fiber-rich wheat bran cereals when compared in consumer trials.

* In the following examples, all parts are expressed by weight and all temperatures are expressed in degrees Celsius.

EXAMPLE 1 The ingredients indicated in Table 1 are introduced into a ribbon mixer in the relative quantities indicated below, and the mixture is mixed until the content of the mixer appears to be homogeneous.

5

V

"• TABLE 1

Corn flour 49.9%

Corn bran flour 25.00% 5 Oat flour 15.00%

Sugar 8.0%

Salt 1.0%

Sodium carbonate 0.75%

Vitamin premix 0.15% 10 Crushed lime 0.17%

Colorant (brown) 0.02% 100.0% x Corn bran flour is corn bran which has been ground to a particle size such that 100% passes through a sieve with a mesh opening of 420 microns, 45 % remaining on a 250 micron sieve.

The resulting mixture is found to contain about 8% water. The resulting mixture is, in a separate mixer, additionally added with an additional amount of make-up water 20 so that the resulting mixture contains approximately 20% of water in total. The resulting 20% mixture is fluid although it appears cohesive when pressed in the hand.

The 20% water mixture is introduced into a cooking / extrusion apparatus in which the extruder and the propulsion screw are internally equipped to allow water cooling. Room temperature water is passed through the jacket and the screw and an approximate 5 ° C increase in temperature is noted in the jacket while the cooling water of the screw comes out at around 3046 ° C . The cooking / extruding apparatus is operated in a conventional manner to allow compression, propulsion and extrusion of the dough, under conditions such that even if cooling is applied, the temperature of the dough at the time of extrusion is about 170 ° C with abrupt decrease in pressure. For example, the extruded product is passed through six orifices arranged in a circle in a close manner in the die base and the extruded product from each orifice comes into cohesive contact with the extruded product from each 6 ψ side to form a tube. The tube is passed between rollers of conventional cut to obtain separate pieces in the form of small cushions. A typical conventional extrusion apparatus and a cutting apparatus which can be used in accordance with the present invention are described in the U.S. Patent.

No. 3,054,677.

When cutting the product into pieces, in this example into pads, the product falls into a conveyor 10 with air current at high temperature and speed where the air is at 315 ° C for example, and transported to a cyclone separator and air lock, and is discharged into a third hopper. Then the product is introduced into a conventional coating apparatus with a syrup, at a rate of 70% by weight of cereal cushions and 30% by weight of syrup, and is mixed until a product is obtained practically uniform, the resulting coated product then passing through a two-phase oven to bring the water content down to about 2 to 3%.

The coating syrup is prepared by mixing 40.8 per-20ties of sugar (granulated sucrose), 5.6 parts of coconut oil, 2.7 parts of salt, 0.1% of vitamins and 50, 74 parts of water.

The product obtained according to Example 1 is tested to determine its sensory qualities by comparison with a certain number of cereals rich in fiber based on wheat bran commercially available. In this test, the product of Example 1 was compared by a certain number of consumers, at home, with products rich in fibers based on wheat bran which are commercially available, but whose con-30sumateur, in this test, did not know the origin of the sound.

The product obtained according to Example 1 has been found to have a clear preference over any of the products using wheat bran as an ingredient providing the high fiber levels. The products of the present invention are preferred with respect to the aroma, texture and characteristics in the drinking bowl.

EXAMPLE 2

A series of comparative tests is carried out in which the procedure of Example 1 is repeated, but in the first test of this example, the corn bran is used as corn bran directly from the milling 5 dry corn. In a second test, a coarsely ground corn bran is used, that is to say passing 100% through a sieve with a 4.75 mm mesh opening. In the first test, there is a significant blockage of the orifices, swelling in the extruder and a very significant disintegration of the pieces obtained is observed. By disintegration of the obtained pieces, it is indicated that the pieces tend to disintegrate during the expansion step, with the result that an extremely high percentage of broken cereal pieces is obtained.

In the second test of this example, the problem of clogging of the dies is clearly reduced although still existing, a large swelling continues to be observed and a large disintegration of the cereal pieces is again observed.

The conditions described in the examples are not given by way of limitation, since the present invention can be used with any conventional process of expansion by cooking / extrusion to obtain ready-to-eat cereal products. However, the preferred intervals for the operation of the cooking / extruding apparatus according to Example 1 include the use of screw speeds of about 135 to 155 rpm, for example, pressures on the dough just in upstream of the die orifices from 165 to 180 bars, die dough temperatures of 165-177 ° C and temperatures of the high-speed air stream are preferred from 315 to 370 ° C in the air conveyor.

Although the example uses cooked cereal dough ingredients selected from oats and corn as the main starch source, all other cereals and cooked cereal dough ingredients can be used in the process of the present invention . For example, ingredients derived from wheat such as wheat flour can be obtained, and rice, sorghum, soy, tapioca, waxy corn and other cooked cereal ingredients can also be used. We add λ 8 "also conventionally sugars, flavorings, etc ...

According to the present invention, a ready-to-eat, very satisfactory and sufficiently expanded cereal product is obtained using corn bran. In addition, it is found that the product derived therefrom has an improved aroma and does not have the heavy taste and texture of wheat bran. The product is believed to be surprisingly pleasant as far as consumer testing indicates that most people prefer the taste of corn bran over cereals made from wheat bran.

It is therefore seen from the foregoing examples that, according to the present invention, corn bran can be successfully used in the production by cooking / extrusion of ready-to-eat expanded cereal products, provided that the corn bran is First ground to the critical fineness interval described here, prior to incorporating corn bran as an ingredient in the manufacture of the extruded expanded cereal product. On the other hand, if corn bran directly from dry milling or more coarsely ground corn bran is used, the process is completely unsatisfactory and impractical.

According to the present invention, sufficient corn bran flour of the desired fineness is added to the ingredients of the ready-to-eat cereal product to obtain 1.5 to 10.0% fiber from corn bran. In preferred embodiments, 3.5 to 7.0% fiber is provided. The products in this latter range are called commercially high fiber products.

%

Claims (7)

1. Process for the production of a cereal product rich in dry fiber and ready to eat, characterized in that: 5 is mixed with cereal paste ingredients sufficient corn bran flour to obtain at least 1.5% fibers in said product, said corn bran flour having been ground to a fineness to which 100% of said corn bran flour passes through a sieve with a mesh opening of 420 microns; the ingredients are cooked in a cooking / extruding apparatus to form an extruded product under conditions of temperature and pressure high enough to cause expansion of the chew as it exits the cooking apparatus cooking / extrusion; the extruded expanded dough product is cut into separate pieces and the resulting pieces are dried to a water content of 2 to 3%. 20 f 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that said corn bran flour has been ground to a fineness where 100% pass through a sieve with a mesh opening of 420 microns and at least 45% remain on a sieve 250 microns. 3. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the corn bran flour has been ground to a fineness where 100% pass through a 250 micron sieve and 70% remain on a 149 micron sieve. 4. Method according to any one of claims 301, 2 and 3, characterized in that the corn bran flour is added in an amount sufficient to give 1.5 to 10% of fibers, limit values included, by relative to the weight of the resulting product. = 5. Method according to any one of claims 351 to 4, characterized in that the corn bran flour is added in an amount sufficient to give a fiber content of 3.5 to 7.0% by weight, limit values included, based on the weight of the product. r% 9 10, 1 < 6. A dry, ready-to-eat expanded cereal product obtained in a cooking / extrusion expansion process, said cereal comprising corn bran flour in sufficient quantity to give 1.5 to 10.0 % fiber, limit values included, by weight relative to the weight of the product, said corn bran flour having been added to said product as an ingredient which has been ground to a fineness to which 100% of said corn bran flour passes through a sieve with a mesh opening of 10,420 microns. 7. Product according to claim 5, characterized in that all the cereal-type ingredients are derived from oats and corn, and in that the fiber content coming from corn bran flour is between 3.5 and 7.0%, by weight, 15 relative to the weight of the product. y