What are puffed foods?

The meaning of puffed food: Puffed food is a new type of food that has developed internationally in recent years. It uses grains, legumes, potatoes, vegetables, etc. as raw materials, processed by a food puffing machine to produce a wide variety of foods with exquisite shapes, rich nutrition, and crispy, fragrant, and delicious textures. Due to differences in usage and equipment, puffed food is divided into three types. The first type uses an extrusion-type food puffing machine, with corn and potatoes as raw materials to produce snacks.

Second, using an extrusion food puffing machine to produce textured protein food (plant-based meat) from plant protein as raw material. Third, using grains, legumes, or tubers as raw materials to make puffed staple foods after puffing. In addition to trial-producing an indirect heating puffing machine, various puffed foods have been made from refined grain puffed flour. Advantages of puffed foods:

1. Improved texture and taste: After puffing, the coarse and hard structure of coarse grains is destroyed, making them no longer look or taste like coarse grains. The texture becomes soft, and the taste and flavor are improved, making them delicious.

2. Convenient to eat: After puffing, coarse grains become cooked food that can be directly brewed with boiling water, made into compressed food, or processed into various foods with minimal preparation. It is simple and time-saving. As long as grain departments, factories, mines, enterprises, institutions, or schools supply puffed flour, it can be processed and prepared at home or in collective canteens, becoming a truly convenient food.

3. High nutrient retention and digestibility: The puffing process has a high retention rate of nutrients. Puffed foods have relatively high nutrient retention and digestibility, indicating that the puffing process does not affect the nutritional value of the food, and its digestibility is even higher than that of unpuffed food.

4. Easy to store: After puffing, the grain undergoes high-temperature sterilization, and the moisture content of the puffed powder is reduced to below 10%. Such low moisture limits the growth of insects and mold, enhances their stability during storage, makes them suitable for long-term storage, and improves their edible quality.