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US 11,337,446 B2Granted
Crisp and hard whole oat kernel snack
AssigneesThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, Pop Oats LLC
InventorsTara H. McHugh, Zhongli Pan, Donald A. Olson, Marc Pfeiffer, Rodger Morris
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Abstract
A crisp and hard whole kernel oat snack product made by fully hydrating whole oat kernels (i.e. oat groats), and then gelatinizing the starch in the whole oat kernels using an infrared process. The gelatinized oats are then roasted in a hot air dryer. The resulting food product is measurably harder and crisper than other whole oat products currently available.
Claims10
A method of making a crisp and hard whole oat kernel food product, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) soaking whole oat groat kernels in a fluid for about at least about 18-70 hours to achieve a moisture content of about 40-45%;
- (b) straining the whole oat groat kernels to remove excess surface moisture;
- (c) heating the whole oat groat kernels with an infrared emitter at about 285-600° C. until starch in the whole oat groat kernels is gelatinized;
- (d) roasting the gelatinized whole oat groat kernels with a hot air blower until the whole oat groat kernel product attains a crispness of between about 600-700 kg/sec and a hardness of about 230-300 kg force.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.