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AssigneeGeneral Mills, Inc.
InventorsDavid Plank, Jessica Luger, Kory Kolvig
Estimating the term…
Disclosed are microwave popcorn articles including a thickened liquid (at room temperature) oil and their methods of preparation. The microwave popcorn articles comprise any conventional microwave popcorn bag or container, and a food charge disposed therein comprising kernel popcorn and/or puffable pellets; 1% to 45% liquid (at room temperature) oil; and, 0% to 4% salt. The oil ingredient has a melting point of ≦25° C. The oil ingredient includes an oil thickening ingredient especially a starch based oil thickening ingredient such as a cyclodextrin in amounts sufficient to dimensionally stabilize the oil. By avoiding hydrogenation to solidify the oil into a solid fat at room temperatures, finished popcorn products can be provided that are desirably low in trans fatty acid content. The methods of preparation include preparing a heated oil thickened with cyclodextrin complexed with the oil and adding the thickened oil to the microwave container.
A popcorn article exhibiting desirable organoleptic attributes comprising:
A method for preparing a full fat, reduced or low fat microwave popcorn article by filling with a food charge comprising kernel popcorn, oil and salt, comprising the steps of:
The method of claim 27 wherein at least a portion of the cyclodextrin is alpha cyclodextrin.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.