Patent ID: 8778442

Claim:
A method of preparing extruded legume micro pellets comprising the steps of: a. introducing a legume flour into a preconditioner; b. hydrating and blending the legume flour in the preconditioner to form a hydrated legume mixture; c. introducing the hydrated legume mixture to an extruder and applying a specific mechanical energy of about 80-140 w-h/kg per dry mix basis to the hydrated legume mixture; d. adding additional moisture if necessary to obtain a moisture level of about 25-30% for the hydrated legume mixture; e. maintaining the hydrated legume mixture in the extruder for about 4 minutes to form a legume dough; f. forcing the legume dough to exit the extruder; g. transferring the legume dough to a cold forming extruder; h. compressing the dough and then cooling the dough through a water jacked barrel liner; i. forcing the dough through a die assembly at the end of the extruder; j. cutting the legume dough to form a legume micro pellet; and k. drying the legume micro pellet.