Improvements in or relating to the production of a ready-to-eat cereal product or breakfast food from oats

摘要

A method of producing a ready-to-eat cereal product from oats comprises forming an aqueous mixture of oatmeal or other edible form of oats and heating preferably below 100 DEG C in the presence of an enzyme, preferably of a type capable of breaking down the starch in the oats into sugar, to form a sweet fluid porridge mixture, heating said mixture preferably above 100 DEG C to form a stiff paste and then subjecting the paste, preferably in finely divided form, to baking oven temperature to dry and bake into a crisp and puffed product. The paste may be subdivided by extrusion in the form of rods or filaments which may be extruded on to a travelling mesh conveyer at a speed exceeding that of the conveyer to cause a wavy or sinous disposition of the rods. The baking process may be effected by causing the conveyer to pass close to or between heating panels which may form part of a tunnel and which emit infra red rays. In an example 9 1/2 lb. flaked oats, 1 1/2 oz. salt, 19 grms. enzyme preparation and 7,371 litres water are added in a water jacketed pan and mixed to a smooth consistency and stirred for 2 1/2 hours when it becomes thin and is then tipped into a steam jacketed pan and boiled until it is very thick. The mixture is allowed to cool and is then dumped into a hopper mounted on a screw type extruder and forced on to a moving wire mesh belt conveyer which traverses a drying oven incorporating heating panels emitting infra red rays, the temperature of the oven being 400 DEG F at the feed and 200 DEG F at the exit.