Patent ID: 8158179

Claim:
Method for the continuous production of an expanded edible food product ( 2 ) containing solid inclusions ( 8 ) larger than 0.5 mm and obtained from a solid raw material ( 10 ) containing carbohydrates and/or proteins, wherein in a cylinder ( 3 ) of an extruding machine ( 1 ) having at least one screw ( 5 ): during a first step the raw material ( 10 ) is introduced with optionally at least one additive and additional water is optionally added, during a second step, the raw material ( 10 ), said at least one additive and the water are mixed and the resulting mixture is cooked to obtain a cooked dough, during a third step, the dough is compressed, forming a sealing plug in order to keep the preceding steps under pressure and to limit steam leakages downstream, the dough is degassed in a fourth pressure-relieving step in order to reduce the pressure downstream in the cylinder ( 3 ), the inclusions ( 8 ) are introduced into the dough during a fifth step, during a sixth step the dough and the inclusions ( 8 ) are mixed at low shear rate to obtain a homogenous mixture with a uniform distribution of inclusions ( 8 ) in said dough, and during a seventh step the dough-inclusion mixture is pushed into an extrusion die ( 15 ) at a very low shear rate, at the outlet of which the mixture expands.