2,879,167 Unite Statesp?t?nt of "ice Patented Mar. 24, 1959

1 . 2 , di?iculties, on roller mills. The production of super?ne ?our from such ground and milled substantially de-oiled 2,879,167 germs by sifting and sieving does not cause any dif?culty. PROCESS OF MAKING GERM FLAKES The resulting germ ?ours’ are comparatively stable, Felix Grandel, Inningeu, near Augsburg, Germany due to their low oil content. They can be stored in the samemanner as ?our without becoming rancid. No Drawing. Application June 24, 1954 However, they still possess a bitter taste which limits Serial No. 439,125 their use as foodstuff. It has been found that the bitter , Claims priority, application Germany June 26, 1953 _ taste of such germ ?ours is dependent upon their de* gree of comminution. which have been ground 1 Claim. (or. 99-80) only to a low degree of comminution and have as low a content of crude ?ber and particles as possible, have the best taste while highly comminuted ?ours which _ The present invention relates to a process of debitter contain large amounts of bran contain also large amounts ing germs and/or seedlings of and more particu 16 of bitter components. larly to a process of producing debittered ?akes of germs This observation proves that the bitter components and/or seedlings of cereals, ‘and to products obtained of cereal germs are mainly enriched in bran and thereby. - components of said material. Therefore, only germ -. It-is known to debitter germs of cereals by roasting ?ours of low degree of comminution are suitable for the or‘by a treatment with alkali hydroxide solutions and to 20 production of a starting material which can be used in further'process such debittered germs of cereals to food the manufacture of cereal germ ?akes. It has been found preparations. It is furthermore known to grind germs that the degree of comminution must not be higher of cereals and to subject the resulting ?our to a drying, than 50%. roasting, mashing, fermenting, and the like process and According to the present invention it has been found to admix thereto other suitable materials. 25 that cereal germ ?akes of pleasant taste and free of bit All the heretofore known and used processes which ter components can be produced from such a ?ne germ are concerned with the improvement of germs of cereals, ?our ground in highly effective grinding and milling de yield the desired result only incompletely. Either it was vices in the manner described hereinbefore by convert found that such processes can be carried out in prac ing such germ ?our into a dough by kneading with wa— tical operation only in an uneconomical manner and/or 30 ter or other liquids such as milk, fruit and the with great di?iculties or the resulting ?nal products are like, and by drying such dough under speci?c conditions bitter and of disagreeable taste. on a roller dryer of speci?c construction. As stated above, it is known to grind germs of cereals. It is known to dry solid and liquid materials on roller However, the oil content of the germs of cereals renders dryers. It has, however, been found by extensive ex such a grinding process very dif?cult. When using germs 35 periments that cereal germ ?akes free of bitter compo of a high oil content such as, for instance, corn germs, nents can economically and practically be produced only it is almost impossible to carry out such grinding proc when using special drying apparatus as they are em ess. ‘When aiming at the production of very ?nely com ployed in the potato ?ake industry and furthermore, that minuted germ ?ours by means of highly effective grind debittering of such‘ cereal germ ?akes is achieved only ing and milling devices, said grinding and milling de 40 When working within very de?nite temperature limits. vies and sieves are smeared and become fouled by the Entirely unsuitable for the production of cereal germ high oil content of said cereal germs so that it becomes ?akes which are free of bitter components are belt-type very rapidly impossible to technically carry out such op-_ dehydrators or conveyer drying machines, disc dryers, erations. Furthermore, the resulting ?ours which are 45 dryers with only a single roller, twin-cylinder spray-dry rich in oil are bitter and rapidly become rancid. The ing machines and similar types of dryers. oil which is set free during grinding and milling is pres It has furthermore been found that debittering of the cut at the surface of said ?our particles, and therefore, cereal germ ?akes on such ?aking rollers is preferably is rapidly oxidized by atmospheric oxygen. Such ?ours carried out at a temperature between about 130° and rich in oil become unpalatable within a few days and the 50 about 140° C. Thereby the rotation of the rollers is germ oil contained therein is split up to free fatty acids to be adjusted in such a manner that the ?akes are heated in an amount corresponding to about 80%. ‘ to said temperature only vfor a short period of time so ' vIt is one object of the present invention to provide a that they cannot burn. Furthermore, it has been found new and‘ e?fective process which permits the production that maintaining such a temperature range is not only of stable germ ?ours in highly comminuted form by mill-' 55 necessary in order to effect sufficient debittering but that ing and grinding in highly e?iective milling and grinding heating to such a high temperature of 130-140” C. for devices. a short period of time. causes the lowest possible losses Another object of the present invention consists in in . providing very ?nely comminuted cereal germ ?ours A number of cereal germs contain bitter components which are stable even on prolonged storage and are 60 which cannot completely be eliminated by said treat substantially free of any bitter taste and rancidity. ment on roller dryers at 130-140° C. They are, how ' Other objects of the present invention and advan ever, split up, and thus, eliminated by a treatment with tageous features thereof will become apparent as the de sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate. Thereby scription proceeds. , cereal germ ?akes of satisfactory taste can be obtained In principle, the process according to the present in 65 provided certain speci?c conditions are observed. It ventionconsists in ?rst removing a substantial amount has been found that the amount of sodium carbonate of the oil present in cereal germs, for instance, by hy ‘ or sodium bicarbonate to be added is adjusted accord draulic pressing and/or by extraction with solvents for ing to the_d_egree of acidity of the germ ?our. Said de oils. The deoiled cereal germs must not contain more gree of acidity is determined according to the method of than 4% of oil. Such substantially de-oiled cereal germs 70 Schulroth, which method indicates how many cc. of N/lO potassium hydroxide solution are necessary to‘ can then readily be milled and ground, Without technical ' neutralize the fatty acids present in 10 g. of hour. The 2,879,167 3 addition of sodiumv carbonate» or sodium bicarbonate might fall otf from the dryer. The ?akes, after such according to the present invention not only removes the puri?cation, have a water content of 4-6%. They are bitter components from said ?our but also neutralizes especially suitable for the manufacture of dietetic food thefattyacids. preparations, pharmaceutical preparations and in the Complete debittering” of the icereallgerm ?ours to be‘ confectionery industry. converted. into ?akes can- be achieved by adding, during. Example 2 ?aking, such amounts’ of sodium carbonate or sodium. bicarbonate as are equivalent to the degree of acidity of Corn germs obtained on dry-degermination of corn said ?our. ‘If: smaller amountsof said sodiumcarbon are de-oiled by subjecting them to the action ofhydrau ate or sodium bicarbonate are added, no debittering e?ect 10 lic presses. The resulting oil cakes have an oil content takes place‘because the free fatty acids are ?rst neutral of about 4% andare ground and milled to a super?ne ized ‘before the bitter components which. are .glucoside ?our as shown in Example 1. The resulting super?ne compounds can be hydrolyzed. If larger amounts of‘. ?our is then mixed with 30% of dry buttermilk powder, such sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate are added 20% of , 0.1% of ‘citric acid, and 0.5% of table to said‘?our, the ?akes acquire a‘ soapy taste. The addi 15 salt. The mixture is thoroughly kneaded with 50% of tion of other alkali, carbonates or alkali bicarbonates its weight of water and 50% of its weight of buttermilk than sodium carbonate or sodium- bicarbonate did' not and is ?aked at 130—l40° C. as described in Example 1. yield satisfactory results because such other alkali-com The resulting ?akes are puri?ed in the same manner as pounds unfavorably eifect the taste of the treated ?akes. described in Example 1. They represent an excellent Other materials such as, for instance, milk. powder, 20 baby ‘food and can also be used as breakfast cereal ?akes. sugar, citric acid, ?avoring materials and others may Example .3 be added to the cereal germ ?our during ?aking. In this manner a savory breakfast or baby food is ob- germs are subjected to the action of hyd'rauiic tained. Itis surprising that in such mixtures the taste presses; The expressed residues ‘are ground and milled of the ?akes is even more agreeable than the taste of 25 to a super?ne ‘as described in Example 1. The the mixture itself. It has been found that this improve 50% super?ne ‘?our has a degree of acidity (determined ment in taste is effected by maintaining the above men according to the method of Schulerud) of 15. 100 kg.‘ tioned temperature range on ?aking the ?our by means of said ric'e germ ?our are mixed with 100 liters of of rollers and is caused by caramelization of the sugar water ‘containing ‘dissolved therein 795 g. of sodium and the milk. The crude ?akes leaving the potato ?ake 30 carbonate or 1.260 ‘kg. of sodium ‘bicarbonate. 'The dryer and the cooling tower are,. for instance, equalized mixture‘is converted into a‘ paste by means of an endless by passing them through a tearing apparatus comprising screw-type‘ mixer and is then transformed into ?akes by‘ a toothed roller. The equalized ?akes are then graded means of a‘ roller mill. The resulting ?akes are of very‘ and sorted by a cascade cleaning machinewhile the agreeable ‘taste free of any bitter material and are useful‘ dust- carried‘ along‘by the aspirator is recovered by means 35 in the" manufacture of food‘ and phra'maceutica'l prep‘ of a tubular revolving ?lter. stations. The following examples serve to illustrate the present Example 4 invention without, however, limiting the same thereto: Wheat ‘germs are de-oiled by means of hydraulic‘ Example.‘ 1 presses. The resulting wheat germ cake is ?nely ground 40 and milled to yield 51.50% super?ne ?our. Said ?our Corn germs-as they are obtained according to the dry is mixed with 30% of soybean ?our and 30% of Jeru degerminat-ing process of Dr. Grandel or obtained on salem artichoke ?our. 100 kg. of said mixture are‘thor grinding and milling corn, or corn germs obtained in the oughly kneaded with. 100 liters of Water containing an cornstarch production by the ?otation process, are thor amount of sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate cor oughly extracted with benz’ine. Said‘ extraction is pref 45 responding to the acid content of said mixture. The erably ‘carried out ‘in apparatus as they are used' in oil resulting paste is then converted into ?akes by means of mills for extracting oil . The resulting extraction a roller dryer as described in the preceding examples. residue‘ still' contains about 1% of . It is then ?nely The ?akes obtained. thereby can be used as ‘food prep ground'in" conventional milling apparatus. Grinding and. aration for diabetics. milling is e?ected' in such a‘ manner that a 50% super 50 Roller or drum dryers to be used in the process accord ?ne ?our is produced. The remaining residue is Worked ing. to the present invention operate in such a manner up according to the‘ process‘ of German Patent No. that-the‘ pasty material is applied to a revolving heated’ 840,047 to yield afee‘d ‘of high nutritional value; metal, drum which conducts heat to the wet. ?lm spread. The‘super?ne ?our 'is' mixed with about 30%‘ tov about overthe-sttrface of said roller or drum and thereby evapo' 50%“, of its weight of water and the mixture is. thor rates the water during partial revolution of the drum. The‘ oughlykn'eade'd‘ in an‘ endless screw‘etype mixer. Said' ' dry material.- is scraped from. the drum by a stationary moist flour‘ is‘ then‘ conducted, by means of a‘ conveyor knife. The most preferred roller or drum. dryers used in device; to ‘a roller dryer provided with‘ feeding and sup- the process according to the present invention are double plyingrollers suchjas they‘ are used in the manufacture drum ‘dryers in. which the direction of ‘rotation is down of potato‘ ?akes. The dryer vshould have a roller length 60 ward. Care must be taken that the reservoir for feeding. of at least’ 2 m; and a .roller diameter of at least 1_ m. the cereal germ paste. to .said double-drum dryer is ‘sepa The rollers are preferably driven by a regulating-‘speed rated from said heated drums. This is best achieved by gear. The rollers are preferably heated by means‘ of using a single or double transfer roll for transferring the steam. The steam pressure within the ‘rollers is adjusted paste to the‘ drums. Such transfer rolls, in contrast to the in such a manner that the temperature of said rollers 65 drying rollers or drums, are not heated. Thereby the is‘ about 130°C. to about 140° C. danger is eliminated that the paste to be dried remains Thoroughly kneaded ?our paste is then supplied to in‘contactwith the drying drums for too long a period of said roller‘ dryer and the speed of rotation is adjusted time and, consequently, is adversely affected'by the high in such a manner that well dried ?akes are obtained. drying temperature. Twin-‘drum‘dryers having two drums Said ?akes are of’light brown color and have an agree 70 turning in a‘ldire‘c'tion opposite to the double-drum dryer, able nut-like‘ taste. The ?akes‘ falling off said roller i>.e.>upwardl'y-, may also-be used. The cereal germ paste dryer are sifted and puri?ed by means of air separators is‘ also‘transfeired to ‘the drum surface by means of a and are sieved over coarse sieves. This operation is single or double unheated transfer roll. Such transfer necessary‘ to prevent contamination of said ?akes vby roll- or rollsrniayzalso be place‘d'ne'ar the top of the drum. moist and/or dry"lu'mps' of the paste; to be ‘dried which .75 Singlezor multiple .roller'oriidrum'dryers" may likewise be“ 2,879,167’ 5 8 used if provided with transfer rolls for applying the paste grain shells or , and only a very small percentage of to said rollers or drums. Preferably the rollers or drums ?ne ?our. The shell or husk particles and the ?ne ?our are provided with several smoothing rolls which con are separated and the large grit-like particles are more tinuously smooth the drying paste layer that initially, and more reduced in size by subsequent grinding steps. due to vigorous evaporation, becomes uneven and rough, '1‘hereby the shell or husk particles which are still present and which ?rmly press and force said paste layer against in the material to be ground are more and more and the drying roller or drum, thus, ensuring satisfactory heat finally almost completely separated from the super?ne transfer and, thus, better drying performance. ?our particles obtained in the last grinding steps. In this In principle, drying of the cereal germ paste to yield manner it is possible to substantially remove all the ?ber ?akes requires a drying process whereby the paste to be 10 and bran particles present in the starting de-oiled germs. dried is applied to a moving drying surface of heat con— In contrast to such a “high grinding process,” the “?at ducting material heated from the side opposite to said grinding process,” whereby a large quantity of ?our is drying surface. The material to be dried is exposed to obtained on the ?rst passage through the grindingi'device, drying heat only for a short period of time sufficient to yields a cereal germ ?our which is not as suitable for‘ form ?aky dried material. Thereby the paste to be dried, 15 conversion into ?akes since it contains considerably higher before being supplied to the drying surface, and the dry amounts of bitter components present in the bran and ing surfaces are not in direct contact with each other so husks of the cereals. \ that the drying surface does not cause substantial increase Determination of the degree of acidity according to in the temperature of said paste and, thus, does not ad the method of Schulerud mentioned hereinbefore, is car versely affect its composition nor its nutritional value. 20 ried out as described, for instance, in “Cereal Chem," Since the general construction and the details in dryers vol. 10, page 129 (1933). Said method consists in prin of this roller or drum-dryer type are well known and ciple in extracting 10 g. of ?our with 100 cc. of 67% familiar to those skilled in the art, and since said dryers ethanol and titrating the alcoholic extract with N/ 10 are large and elaborate structures it is not considered to sodium hydroxide solution and phenolphthalein as be necessary for an understanding of this invention to 25 indicator. illustrate and describe the same. ‘It may be mentioned that the degree of comminution The same applies to the cascade cleaning machines as indicated by the term “50% super?ne ?our,” comprises which are used, for instance, for sorting, grading, and a ?our which contains at the most 50% of the shells or purifying and the like products. Such a ma~ husks of the starting cereal material. Accordingly a chine sorts and grades the starting semolina according 30 super?ne ?our between 0% and 50% contains consider to its speci?c gravity and operates with wind suction or ably less crude ?ber, pentosans, , and aspiration. The cereal germ ?akes are uniformly and matter than a less ?ne ?our between 51% and 80%. steadily supplied to said machine by means of feeding I claim: ' rollers and adjustable inlet ?aps or shutters. Heavy In a process of producing debittered stable ?akes from semolina or middlings are deposited in the front chambers cereal germs, the steps which comprise providing an and light semolina or middlings in the rear chambers. aqueous paste of a cereal seed germ material of an oil Such machines are well known to the art and need not content not exceeding about 4% and a degree of com be described in detail herein. minution corresponding to an about 50% super?ne flour As tearing apparatus for equalizing the crude ?akes and drying and ?aking said paste in a moving thin layer leaving the dryer there may advantageously be used crush 40 with only short exposure to a temperature between about ing devices of the type employed in crushing oilseed cakes 130° C. and about 140° 0., thereby causing heat transfer and the like. indirectly to said thin layer of paste from one side only Dry-degerminating of corn according to the process through metallic conductor material, said paste not being developed by Dr. F. Grandel is, for instance, carried out affected by and not heated by contact with the drying according to the process and with the device described 45 zone. in German Patents No. 715,156 and 729,662. Of course, other processes of separating germs from cereal seeds in References Cited in the ?le of this patent the dry state, i.e. without any moistening of said seeds, UNITED STATES PATENTS may also be used. The cereal germ residues obtained on grinding the de 50 Re. 22,748 Levin ______... Apr. 30, 1946 oiled germs are either used as such or after addition of 1,586,869 Wesener ______June 1, 1926 diastatic ferments as feed for young animals, especially 2,130,087 Hasbrouck ______.. Sept. 13, 1938 calves. They may ?rst be subjected to an enzymatic 2,135,445 Walsh ______Nov. 1, 1938 treatment as this is described more in detail in German 2,450,123 Cryns ______.. Sept. 28, 1948 Patent No. 840,047 mentioned hereinbefore. 55 FOREIGN PATENTS The substantially de-oiled cereal germs are preferably ground according to that type of ?our grinding processes 401,941 Great Britain ______Nov. 23, 1933 wherein the material to be ground is passed through sev OTHER REFERENCES eral grinding steps. The material, during the ?rst grind “Chemical Engineers Handbook," 3rd edition, 1950, ing steps, is merely crushed and broken up to compara 60 by Perry (editor), published by McGraw-Hill Book Co. tively large grit-like particles, large particles of the cereal (New York), pp. 863-864.