Patent ID: 7976888

Claim:
A method to form an oat bran fraction and oat flour fraction, comprising the steps of: bolting coarse whole heat conditioned grain oat flour having a native β-glucan content to form a first pass coarse oat bran having a particle size greater than about 1030 μm, a first pass fine oat bran having a particle size of less than 1030 μm but greater than about 520 μm and a first pass oat flour having a particle size of less than about 420 μm; flaking the first pass coarse oat bran and the first pass fine oat bran to form first and second flaked oat brans, and combining the first and second flaked oat brans to form a flaked first pass oat bran; bolting the flaked first pass oat bran to form a second pass β-glucan rich oat bran fraction having a particle size of greater than 520 μm and a second pass oat flour having a particle size of less than 520 μm; hammer milling the second pass β-glucan rich oat bran fraction to form a milled oat bran; and, bolting the milled oat bran to form a third pass β-glucan rich oat bran fraction having a particle size of greater than 300 μm and a third pass oat flour having a particle size of less than 300 μm.