Extrusion die assembly for high density products

A food extruder comprising:

• an elongated barrel presenting a food material inlet end and an outlet end;
• an elongated, axially rotatable, helically flighted, food material-conveying screw within said barrel and operable to move food material from said inlet toward and through said outlet under pressure;
• and
• a food extrusion die assembly coupled to the outlet end of said barrel and comprising:
• an elongated tubular section presenting a longitudinal axis and having an axial length and a bore with an inlet end and an outlet end, said bore from said inlet end to said outlet end defining a downstream direction and progressively diverging at an angle of from about 1-11° in said downstream direction from said inlet end to said outlet end;
• a plurality of separate, structurally distinct tubular extensions operably coupled with said bore outlet end and configured to receive food material from the tubular section, each of said extensions being oriented at a diverging angle relative to the longitudinal axis and the downstream direction of said tubular section;
• a food extrusion die operably coupled with each of said extensions adjacent the ends thereof remote from said tubular section and including a plurality of die openings configured to create a pressure drop across the die openings during extrusion of food material through the die.