Nixtamalization process and products produced therefrom
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
InventorsSteven Eckhoff, Edith Oliva Cuevas Rodriguez, Jorge Milan Carrillo
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Abstract
The present invention provides a nixtamalization process wherein corn endosperm fractions, subfractions, or combinations thereof are individually nixtamalized to produce food products. The invention also comprises food products, including masa, instant masa, tortillas, and tortilla-related food products produced by the present invention's methods, including food products that have controllable fat and/or fiber levels.
Claims29
A method for the production of a food product from endosperm of corn kernels comprising the steps of:
- providing whole corn kernels;
- isolating endosperm from the corn kernels by removing all germ and pericarp from the corn kernels thereby generating isolated endosperm;
- separating the isolated endosperm into at least one fraction or subfraction based on endosperm granulation size, wherein each fraction or subfraction has a size range less than 0.4 mm, and said endosperm fraction or subfraction does not contain germ or pericarp;
- nixtamalizing said fraction or subfraction of the endosperm;
- and
- producing the food product from the nixtamalized endosperm fraction or subfraction.
A method for the production of a food product from endosperm of whole corn kernels comprising the steps of:
- removing pericarp and germ from said whole corn kernel to provide said endosperm;
- separating said endosperm into at least one fraction or subfraction based on endosperm granulation size;
- nixtamalizing said fraction or subfraction of endosperm;
- and
- producing said food product from said nixtamalized endosperm fraction or subfraction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.