ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the cooking aspect of the process, as well as the effects of additives on snack and cereal product processing. Cereals and Cereal snacks are processed grain formulations prepared in a manner that is satisfactory to the consumer’s standards of texture, taste, and overall acceptability profile. The process of cereal or cereal snack manufacturing begins with the receiving of grains, cleaning, preparation of grain for milling, milling, sifting, and remilling to a specific particle size. The cooking of cereals usually refers to the heating process of cereals in the presence of moisture in order to gelatinize starch and texturize proteins. Within the United States market, there are six general categories of breakfast cereal and cereal snack processing techniques. As indicated, corn flour and cornmeal are used extensively in the cereal and snack industries in the United States market. Thermophysical properties of extruded cornmeal were also studied by N. Unklesbay et al. with a blend of ground beef.
