Patent ID: 8039031

Claim:
A method of treating a plant product in order to ensure reproducibility, achieve potential energy savings from 50% to 85%, in comparison with prior methods, and also ensure quality control of the treated sample, comprising: a. providing a sample of said plant product in a radiation area; b. exposing said sample to a pulsed electromagnetic field; c. monitoring said sample to provide a feedback for optimizing treatment with the pulsed electromagnetic field via a selected number of pulses controlled with a computer system during the step of exposing the sample to the field; d. detecting that the sample has reached a first predetermined level of moisture content; and then e. only if the sample has reached the first predetermined level of moisture content, automatically removing the sample from the radiation area and allowing the sample to rest at a controlled air r.h. of less than about 75% until the sample has reached a specified end moisture level, wherein the specified end moisture level is less than the first predetermined level of moisture content wherein the plant product is corn kernels and the treating results in less than about 15% cracked corn kernels.