Extruded Cereal-Legume Kernels for Fast Cooking and Better Nutrition
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for a food product that provides improved nutritional value, convenience, and variety of cooking and eating experiences, particularly for populations relying on simple and nutritionally poor carbohydrates as staple foods.
Innovation Solution
A reconstituted kernel composition made from a mixture of cereal and legume components, processed through extrusion, which can include an emulsifier, and is designed to have a specific amylose content for controlled cooking performance, offering textures similar to pasta and providing a long-lasting, satisfying eating experience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If simple carbohydrates are used as staple foods, then caloric intake is provided, but nutritional value is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines cereal components (providing carbohydrates) with legume components (providing protein and micronutrients) to create a composite food product. This merging of different food sources delivers both caloric intake and improved nutritional value simultaneously, resolving the contradiction between quantity and quality of nutrition.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a composite food product integrating multiple ingredients (cereal flours, legume flours, and optional additives) into a unified kernel composition. This composite structure ensures balanced nutrition while maintaining the functional properties needed for cooking performance and consumer acceptance.
2Loss of time
If extrusion process is used to process the blend, then cooking time is reduced, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The extrusion process performs preliminary cooking and texturization of the cereal-legume blend during manufacturing. This preliminary action pre-cooks the ingredients and creates a stable kernel structure that requires minimal additional cooking time by the consumer, while the complexity is managed through standardized industrial extrusion equipment.
3Manufacturing precision
If amylose content is controlled for cooking performance, then texture quality is improved, but ingredient selection is constrained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent controls the amylose content parameter within a specific range (20-80% of total starch) to achieve optimal cooking performance and texture quality. By defining this parameter range rather than fixing a single value, the invention maintains manufacturing precision while allowing flexibility in ingredient selection and formulation variations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The composition achieves high nutritional value, short cooking time, and pleasing tastes and textures, with varying firmness and integrity levels, suitable for diverse culinary uses.
Implementation Method 1
The reconstituted kernel composition is prepared through the use of an extrusion process
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure is generally directed to reconstituted kernel compositions, especially to shelf-stable and precooked reconstituted kernel compositions having a cereal component and a legume component, and to methods of making the same.