Method for preparing food products with sweet fructose coatings
AssigneeGeneral Mills, Inc.
InventorsIvan Furda, Shirley C. Gengler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed are methods for coating discrete food pieces with a sweet coating such as in the preparation of a presweetened ready-to-eat cereal. The coating contains a mixture of crystalline fructose and high fructose corn syrup. The amorphous fructose of the HFCS is converted in situ into the sweeter beta fructo-pyranose. The method of preparation comprises the steps, in sequence of: (A) providing a base of dried food pieces; (B) applying HFCS seeded with up to 2% powdered crystalline fructose; (C) enrobing dry powdered crystalline fructose onto the cereal pieces in a weight ratio of crystalline fructose to HFCS of from 2:1 to 1:1; (D) coating the food base pieces with an edible oil; and (E) dusting with a dry powdered sugar.
Claims10
A process for preparing a ready-to-eat cereal exhibiting enhanced sweetness, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing pieces of ready-to-eat cereal;
- (b) coating the cereal pieces with high fructose corn syrup seeded with powdered crystalline fructose wherein the weight ratio of cereal pieces to seeded fructose corn syrup ranges from about 1:0.05 to 1:0.30 to form syrup-coated cereal pieces;
- (c) coating the syrup-coated cereal pieces with powdered crystalline fructose wherein the weight ratio of total crystalline fructose to the seeded fructose syrup ranges from about 1:1 to 2:1 to form coated cereal pieces;
- (d) applying an edible oil to the coated cereal pieces wherein the edible oil has a melting point of from about 70.degree. F. to 120.degree. F., wherein the weight ratio of cereal base to oil ranges from about 1:0.06 to 1:0.5, and wherein the temperature of the oil is sufficiently high such that the oil remains liquid while being enrobed onto the cereal base to form a liquid oil enrobed cereal base.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.