Extruded gelling products and methods for making extruded gelling products

Abstract

An extruded product composed of a gelling extrudate and method of extruding gelling extrudate. The extrudate is composed of cold-water soluble pregelatinized starch formed of starch in a starch-containing admixture modified by extrusion at extrusion pressures greater than 2000 PSI that gels when mixed with water, which preferably also modifies additional starch/starches in the admixture into different molecular weight polymers of cold-water soluble gellant that polymerize forming a gel when mixed with water, preferably forming a hydrocolloid gel, which more preferably is a self-gelling gel, which even more preferably is a thermoreversible gel crosslinked by one or more proteins freed by or modified during extrusion. Admixtures configured to produce gelling extrudates include admixtures composed of cereal grains, including sorghum, wheat, oats, barley and/or corn, and/or legumes, including chickpea, yellow pea, pea and/or lentils with legume admixtures producing gelling extrudates that form thicker gels whose viscosity increases over time.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.