Patent ID: 8263154

Claim:
A method for making whole nixtamalized corn flour, comprising continuously and repeatedly performing the following steps: providing a cleaned corn kernel comprising endosperm, germ, pericarp and bran components; precooking the cleaned corn kernel in a lime solution to effect a partial pericarp and bran hydrolysis and endosperm gelatinization; washing said precooked cleaned corn kernel to remove soluble solids and excess lime into nejayote wastewater and to stabilize a moisture content of said washed precooked corn kernel; milling said washed and stabilized corn kernel and hot-air drying said milled corn kernel for further gelatinization to obtain a mixture of a coarse-grind fraction and a fine-grind fraction; venting said milled and dried mixture of coarse-grind and fine-grind fractions while exhausting moist air; feeding said milled and dried mixture to an entrance end of an air classifier-cooler, the classifier-cooler comprising: the entrance end and an exit end opposite the entrance end, a flat surface-bed spanning between the entrance end and the exit end and positioned at an oblique angle to horizontal so that an end of the surface-bed near the entrance is higher than an end of the surface-bed near the exit, the surface-bed having a structure that allows air to pass therethrough, at least one air intake having an opening that opens into an interior of the classifier-cooler, the opening positioned below the surface-bed, and a fan positioned above the surface-bed; allowing the fed mixture to flow over the flat surface-bed and toward the exit end; applying a partial vacuum with the fan to draw clean air from the air intake and through a moving bed of said milled and dried mixture of coarse and fine-grind fractions to adiabatically cool the mixture, the clean air having a superficial upward air velocity selected to be sufficient to exhaust the fine-grind fraction from the cooled mixture but insufficient to exhaust the coarse-grind fraction; air classifying the cooled mixture of coarse-grind and fine-grind fractions under the partial vacuum to separate an air classified fine-grind fraction from an air-classified coarse grind fraction; venting the air-classified fine-grind fraction and further separating said fine-grind fraction while exhausting moist air; recombining said separated air-classified coarse-grind and fine-grind fractions; sifting said recombined air-classified coarse-grind and fine-grind fractions to separate and recover a sifted fine-grind fraction of 40 to 325 mesh, from the sifted coarse-grind fraction; regrinding and resifting said sifted coarse-grind fraction to recover additional sifted fine-grind fraction; and utilizing the sifted fine-grind fractions to prepare the whole nixtamalized corn flour.