Extruded gelling food products, extruded gelling food product ingredients, and methods for making extruded gelling food products and extruded food product ingredients

Abstract

The present invention is directed to an extruded food product constituent composed of a gelling food product constituent extrudate and method of extruding a gelling food product constituent extrudate used as an ingredient of a food product normally using a gelling gum, like guar gum, xanthan gum or carrageenan as an ingredient. The gelling food product extrudate is composed of cold-water soluble gelling pregelatinized starch formed of starch in a starch-containing admixture modified by extrusion at extrusion pressures greater than 2000 PSI that gels when mixed with water, which preferably also modifies additional starch or starches in the admixture into a plurality of different molecular weight polymers of a cold-water soluble gellant that polymerize forming a gel when mixed with water, preferably forming a hydrocolloid gel, which more preferably is a self-gelling gel, which even more preferably is a thermo-reversible gel crosslinked by one or more proteins freed by or modified during extrusion. Preferred admixtures configured to produce gelling extrudates include admixtures composed of cereal grains, including sorghum, wheat, oats, barley and/or corn, and/or legumes, including chick pea, yellow pea, pea and/or lentils with legume containing admixtures producing gelling extrudates that form thicker gels whose viscosity increases over time that are well suited for use in non-dairy dairy substitutes like non-dairy butter, non-dairy creamers, non-dairy whipped cream, non-dairy yogurt, non-dairy cream cheese, non-dairy cheese, and non-dairy ice cream.