Patent GB-663232-A (GB)
Title: A process of making a ready-to-eat food product of the breakfast cereal type
IPC: A23L1/18
Filed: 1949-02-25
Abstract: The production of ready-to-eat food product of the breakfast cereal type comprises rolling an admixture of at least two different cooked coarse particles of the class cereals and legumes at least one of which is a cereal, to generally co-herent ribbon form to blend and amalgamate the cooked particles, kneading the rolled material with added moisture to form a plastic mass, shaping the mass to particles, drying and thereafter gun-puffing them.  The cereals used may be whole grains, grits and the like particles of wheat, bran, corn, rye, rice, oats.  As an example of legumes soya bean can be used.  Cooking may be carried out by direct introduction of steam, the cooker being maintained at a steam pressure of from 15 to 25 p.s.i.  The amount of water added to the particles is such as to give on discharge a moisture content of 35 to 50 per cent which is reduced by drying at 150 DEG F to 25 to 35 per cent.  The material of 15 to 20 per cent moisture on rolling is reduced to a thickness preferably to less than .003 inches which is after kneaded with water to give 30 to 50 per cent moisture content, shaped into pellets of suitable size for gun-puffing, e.g. by extruding through dies, the shaped pellets are then conditioned to a moisture content of 12 to 18 per cent and placed in a conventional puffing-gun such as a rotary retort which is slowly rotated while externally heated to bring it up to pressure from about 100 to 170 p.s.i. equivalent to an internal temperature of 335 DEG F to 375 DEG F.  At about 120 to 140 p.s.i. equivalent to an internal temperature of 350 DEG F to 360 DEG F, heating and rotation are stopped and the gun suddenly opened and the contents explosively discharged into an area of increased volume and lower pressure.  In an example 36.25 lbs. of yellow corn grits are mixed with 1.2 gallons of water containing 1.07 pounds of salt and cooked for 55 minutes in a rotary steam pressure cooker at 20 p.s.i.  The cooker is then opened and 13.75 lbs. of defatted soya bean flakes added and the cooker turned for 5 minutes to mix the materials and then 0.55 gallons of water containing 0.43 lbs. of salt are added, the cooker closed and further cooking for 20 minutes with rotation allowed.  The jointly cooked admixed material (44.6 per cent moisture) is discharged in the form of discrete particles, vat dried at 150 DEG F to 27.5 per cent moisture and passed between flaking rolls (.001 inches separation) when the rolled material issued as a continuous ribbon like strip.  This is then mixed with 1 pint 4 ozs water and kneaded for 5 minutes to provide a smooth, plastic homogeneous and highly viscous mass and passed through an extruder to form small shaped pellets having a moisture content of 42.2 per cent.  The pellets are vat dried at 130 DEG F to 16.8 per cent moisture, tempered for 3 hours and then placed in the chamber of a rotary puffing-gun the latter being heated externally until a pressure of 130 p.s.i. is developed when the gun is opened and the contents explosively discharged into a relatively large chamber communicating with the atmosphere.