Composite plant-MCT flour, method of manufacture, and food products made therefrom

A method of manufacturing a composite plant-MCT flour, comprising:

• forming a wall material slurry comprised of water, plant flour, a protein, and at least one of an emulsifier or co-emulsifier, wherein:
• the plant flour is selected from the group consisting of gluten flour, gluten-free flour, low carbohydrate seed, nut, or vegetable flour, and combinations thereof;
• the protein is selected from the group consisting of pea protein, hemp protein, pumpkin seed protein, rice protein, soy protein, sunflower seed protein, sacha inchi protein, chia protein, quinoa protein, whey protein, casein, egg protein, beef protein, chicken protein, fish protein, collagen, and combinations thereof;
• the emulsifier, when included, is selected from the group consisting of gum Arabic, acacia fiber, xanthan gum, guar gum, gellan gum, carrageenan, locust bean gum, pectin, starch, soy lecithin, egg lecithin, agar-agar, dextrin, monoglyceride, diglyceride, and combinations thereof, and
• the co-emulsifier, when included, is selected from the group consisting of calcium stearoyl lactylate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, cetearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, calcium stearate, magnesium stearate, phosphates, polyglycerol esters, polysorbate, sorbitan monostearate, sucrose fatty acid ester, and combinations thereof;
• combining MCT oil and a supplemental oil with the wall material slurry to form a heterogeneous mixture, wherein the supplemental oil is selected from the group consisting of avocado oil, Brazil nut oil, canola oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, flaxseed oil, grape see oil, hemp seed oil, olive oil, palm oil, peanut oil, rice bran oil, safflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, walnut oil, hazelnut oil, sunflower oil, butterfat, oils that contain unsaturated fatty acids, oils that contain long-chain fatty acids, oils that contain short-chain fatty acids, and combinations thereof;
• subjecting the heterogeneous mixture to high speed shearing to form an emulsion comprised of MCT and supplemental oil droplets at least partially encapsulated by the wall material, wherein shearing of the heterogeneous mixture causes release of polysaccharide from the plant flour to form modified plant flour depleted in polysaccharide, wherein at least some of the polysaccharide from the plant flour is incorporated into the wall material;
• forming the emulsion into micro-sized and/or nano-sized composite micelles comprising wall material that at least partially encapsulates the MCT and supplemental oil droplets;
• and
• spray-drying the composite micelles with heated air to remove water by evaporation and form dried composite plant-MCT flour particles,
• wherein the dried composite plant-MCT flour particles comprise MCT and supplemental oil droplets encapsulated by a dried wall structure comprised of the protein, polysaccharide released from the plant flour, and at least one of the emulsifier or co-emulsifier.

A method of manufacturing a composite plant-MCT flour, comprising:

• forming a wall material slurry comprised of water, a quantity of plant flour, pea protein, gum Arabic, and at least one of calcium stearoyl lactylate or sodium stearoyl lactylate, wherein:
• combining MCT oil, and optionally a supplemental oil, with the wall material slurry to form a heterogeneous mixture;
• subjecting the heterogeneous mixture to shearing to form an emulsion comprised of MCT oil droplets at least partially encapsulated by with the wall material, wherein shearing of the heterogeneous mixture causes release of polysaccharide from the plant flour to form modified plant flour depleted in polysaccharide, wherein at least some of the polysaccharide from the plant flour is incorporated into the wall material;
• forming the emulsion into micro-sized and/or nano-sized composite micelles comprising wall material that at least partially encapsulates the MCT oil droplets;
• spray-drying the composite micelles with heated air to remove water by evaporation and form dried composite plant-MCT flour particles, wherein the dried composite plant-MCT flour particles comprise MCT oil droplets encapsulated by a wall structure comprised of the pea protein, polysaccharide released from the plant flour, gum Arabic, and at least one of calcium stearoyl lactylate or sodium stearoyl lactylate;
• and
• combining the composite plant-MCT flour and another quantity of plant flour and/or another composite plant-MCT flour.