Continuous enzymatic precooking for the production of an instant corn flour for snack and tortilla

A biochemical process for the continuous production of precooked and partially debranned corn flour, comprising the steps of:

• precooking cleaned corn kernel with steep-water heated from a downstream wet conditioner to form a suspension of corn and water, having a corn to water ratio between 1:1 and 1:1.5,
• precooking the corn kernel at a near neutral-pH with a solution comprising at least one enzyme selected from the group consisting of an endoxylanase and an endoamylase, to effect a partial hydrolysis of bran heteroxylans and starchy cell-walls during precooking,
• wet conditioning said precooked kernel to a predetermined moisture range with warm water from a downstream washer,
• washing said conditioned precooked kernel to remove soluble solids and denatured said at least one enzyme, stabilizing a moisture content of said washed precooked corn kernel with water,
• milling said washed precooked corn kernel and drying said milled corn kernel for further pregelatinization,
• cooling and further drying said ground and dried corn kernel,
• sifting said ground corn to obtain a fine fraction, under 16 to 60 mesh to produce a corn flour with fine particle size, and a coarse fraction, and
• aspirating said sifted coarse fraction to remove a corn bran.