Breakfast Cereals
Oats are used in
breakfast cereals in four main ways: cold granola or
multi-grain type cereals; large flake, quick rolled
oats and oat bran as hot cereals; instant rolled oats
in instant hot cereals; and, oat flour as an
ingredient in extruded (puffed) breakfast cereals.
Cold granola cereals have many of the same
requirements as cookies. The oats must absorb the
correct amount of syrup, honey, or other liquid, and
flake integrity is usually a requirement for visual
appeal.
In addition, because oats are usually one of the
primary ingredients, they make a large contribution
to the final cereal flavor. Therefore the naturally
occurring enzymes must be rendered inactive because
of their part in the creation of rancidity which
affects shelf life.
Granola cereals may contain any of: large flake
rolled oats (usually the thicker flakes such as #3 or
#4 to reduce breakage), quick (any thickness) rolled
oats, baby rolled oats, and oat flour.
For hot cereals, requirements are good visual appeal
and correct cooked texture. Some hot cereals are sold
in clear plastic containers, and visual appeal is an
important marketing tool.
Even for products that are not visible prior to
purchase, it is important that the consumer be
satisfied with the appearance once the package is
open. Although people cooking the cereal can adjust
water content of the recipe as required, absorption
characteristics are
important to obtain the desired consistency.
Shelf-life considerations are again important.
Usually one of the thinner large flake rolled oats
(#5 or #6) or a quick rolled oat is marketed as a hot
cereal. Any granulation of oat bran can be marketed.
Instant hot cereals are usually a combination of
instant rolled oats, which are thin flakes that have
been produced to cook quickly, some gums to control
water absorption, flavoring components (often
including salt and sugar), and occasionally some
fruit pieces. Instants are usually packaged in
individual serving containers because of the
potential for separation of the ingredients in larger
containers.
The extrusion process used to manufacture cold
breakfast cereals is complex, and affected by many
variables. Several are oat related.
Flour absorption characteristics (both amount and
speed of absorption), moisture content, and
granulation can be critical to some formulas and/or
extruders. Fat content of the flour can have an
impact on the amount of puff an extrusion process can
achieve. Starch gelatinization level (referring to
the extent of cook of starches) is often a critical
factor. Enzyme activity of the flour can impact
shelf-life, although extrusion processing changes the
way that fats and enzymes react.
The difficulty is to identify which variables are
critical to a process, and then to optimize these
variables. Each cereal formula/extruder combination
has different critical variables, and different
optimization levels, so cooperation between
manufacturers is required for
product improvement. Both whole oat flour and low
bran oat flour can be used for the manufacturing of
extruded breakfast cereals.
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