How to make the breakfast cereals？

Breakfast cereal puffs snacks food (such as froot loops,cheerios cereals, chocos, chocolate balls Rice crispy, corn flakes,  etc.) is a kind of ready-to-eat cereal food processed by puffing technology, which has the characteristics of crispy, easy to digest, and various flavours.Its processing technology is mainly divided into the following key steps:

1. Raw material pre-processing

- Cereal selection: commonly used corn, rice, wheat, oats, etc., need to be screened to remove impurities.

- Mashing and Blending: Grain is crushed into powder and mixed with other ingredients (e.g. sugar, salt, nutrient enhancers, etc.) according to the recipe.

- Moisture adjustment: control the moisture content of raw materials (usually 12%-18%), affecting the subsequent puffing effect.

2. Mixing and tempering

- Mix raw materials with water, fat, emulsifier, etc. to form dough or slurry.

- Some processes require pre-treatment by steam or heat (e.g. oats need to be steam pasted).

3. puffing moulding

#Expansion method:

- Extrusion puffing (most commonly used):

 - The material passes through a high-temperature, high-pressure extruder, where it is instantly depressurised at the exit of the die and the moisture flashes resulting in volume expansion.

 - Different shapes can be produced (e.g. ball, chocos, circle).

- Airflow expansion:

 - High temperature and high pressure airflow is released instantly to puff the grains (suitable for whole grains, such as puffed rice).

4. drying and baking

- After puffing, the breakfast cereals has a high moisture content (about 8-10%), which needs to be reduced to 3-5% by hot air drying or baking to improve crispiness.

- Some products need to be sprayed with grease or syrup to enhance the flavour.

5. Flavouring and Coating

- Spray flavouring: Spraying of powdered flavoring (e.g. cheese powder, chilli powder) or liquid flavouring agents.

- Syrup Coating: evenly coating syrup, chocolate, etc. and then cooling and curing (e.g., frosted cornflakes).

6. Cooling and Packaging

- Cool to room temperature to prevent condensation and deterioration.

- Nitrogen-filled or vacuum-packed to extend shelf life and maintain crispness.

Key Process Parameters Temperature: Extruding and packing.

- Temperature: Extrusion puffing usually 130-180°C.

- Pressure: Pressure inside the extruder can be up to 3-10MPa.

- Moisture control: The moisture of raw material and final product directly affects the puffing rate and texture.

Trends in product innovation

- Healthy: add whole grain, dietary fibre, low GI ingredients.

- Functional: fortified with proteins, probiotics, vitamins, etc.

- Clean label: reduce additives, use natural flavoring.

Common Breakfast Cereal Puffed Foods

- Cornflakes (e.g. Kellogg's): extruded and puffed then flaked and baked.

- Puffed oatmeal rings: extruded into rings and then dried.

- Micronuts: rice puffed and then flavoured.

The process can produce diversified products by adjusting raw materials and parameters to meet different consumer needs.

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