Quick cooking barley and process
AssigneeProgressive Foods Inc.
InventorsHong Qi, Constance Mary Phillips, Marshall Vance Eliason, Marvin Nakonechny
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for processing barley to make a quick-cooking barley product is described. Barley is pearled to remove hulls, and is then precooked to raise the moisture content and gelatinize starch in a single step. The precooked barley is dried in two stages. The first drying stage causes case hardening of the kernel, while the second stage heats moisture trapped within the kernel to cause steam expulsion from the hardened kernel and final drying of the precooked barley. The resulting dried product is a porous kernel that may be shipped, stored, and easily reconstituted by the end user.
Claims12
A method for processing barley to produce a quick-cooking, dried barley product consisting of:
- pearling raw barley at a pearling rate of approximately 5%-35%, to achieve scarification of the seed coat of the barley;
- precooking the pearled barley to gelatinize starch within the barley and raise moisture content of the barley to at least 60%;
- drying the precooked barley by heating same at a first temperature of approximately 160° C. to 200° C. until case hardening of the barley is achieved;
- continuing to dry the barely by heating the case hardened barley at a second temperature of approximately 120° C. to 40° C. until steam ports form in the case hardened barley.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.