Extrusion Cooking of Cereal-Based Products

Abstract

Cereal Technology and baked foods is a major scientific and technological area, in constant development and of crucial importance for today?s food industry and nutrition. Cereal food engineering has became increasingly important in the food industry over the years, as it plays an important role in developing new food products and improved manufacturing processes. The field of cereal science and technology is very wide, and further developments have been achieved in the last years, whose impact is decisive in today?s cereal products technology. This book intends to give an updated contribute to technological developments on cereal processing for professionals in this sector, as well as for students. Cereals include a vast number of biochemical entities, very diverse in composition and properties, as well as technological abilities. Their production varies according to type of cereal, cultivar or place of growing, as well as cultural practices. Their quality is of the utmost importance, not only at harvest, but mostly after storage, when they are used for transformation. Technological operations such as milling, either wet or dry, or extrusion have been important in the past and are still a main area in cereal processing. Some particular processing operations, like bread or confectionary baking are subject to improvements nowadays and the nutritional and functional properties of cereal products are more and more important from the consumer point of view. Furthermore, security and control is nowadays a primordial aspect of industrial production, being also an area of new developments. For these reasons, and considering an engineering approach to the field, this book mainly focuses on the recent advances in cereal technology and baked foods science. All significant aspects of cereal technology are covered, ranging from agricultural cultivation of cereal grains to their processing in the main cereal consumer products.