Corn puffs

Our group has used twin-screw extrusion to produce many texturized whey-fortified puffed snacks. Whey protein has been blended with barley flour, com meal, rice flour, and wheat starch prior to extrusion, leading to corn puffs with a protein content of 20% instead of the usual 2% (Onwulata et al., 2001a). 

Includes extruded corn chips, tortilla chips and related snacks, direct extruded items such as corn puffs and curls, pretzels, and fabricated chips or sticks. 

Whey may be substituted for starch by as much as 25% in extruded corn snacks, but the product does not puff as much as com alone, as the water-holding whey protein does not react with the starch matrix (Onwulata et al., 1998). WPCs or isolates can be added along with starch to create expanded snack foods with boosted nutritional content however, without texturization, whey proteins in amounts larger than 15% may interfere with expansion, making the products less crunchy. To counter this effect, whey proteins can be texturized with starch to improve their interaction with other food components in a formulation, principally to increase extmdate expansion. In one successful application, between 25% and 35% of the flour was replaced with whey protein (Onwulata et al., 2001a,b). 

The kernels of popcorn are smaller than flint corn. When heated rapidly, the moisture inside the kernels turns to steam and builds up a great pressure. This pressure bursts the outer shell, and the entire inside of the kernel puffs out into a mass of flaky starch. Upon popping, the volume is 25 to 30 times greater than the original kernel. 

Corn Corn Regular Puffs Cones, Pretzels Bread ... 

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