PASTA & CEREALS
Certain pasta and cereal-based products are made with emulsifiers to improve their characteristics and production process. This can enhance features such as mouthfeel, expansion ratio, water absorption, cooking losses, and overall production process
Pasta is made by mixing flour (usually wheat flour) with water and sometimes eggs, salt, and other ingredients. When flour and water are combined, gluten proteins form a sticky network that gives pasta its most important properties:
- Doughy elasticity.
- Chewy texture.
- Ability to rise when baked.
This is only possible if the protein content (gluten) is high enough to create the network.
Gluten-free pasta uses alternative flour, such as rice and corn, instead of wheat flour. These flours lack the proteins necessary to create a gluten network. However, using monoglycerides together with some hydrocolloids can help to replace the protein and create the desired texture and elasticity of traditional pasta.
Lasenor’s brand VEROL® includes palm-based and sunflower-based emulsifiers for Gluten Free Pasta. Swissgum range can also help.
Instant pasta is made from wheat flour, rice, or other flours, and starches as the primary ingredients mixed with water. This addition of water in the recipe allows the use of hydrolyzed lecithin, which improves both the production process and the quality of the finished product. Later, the mixture is dehydrated to create the final product.
Advantages of using hydrolyzed lecithin in the production process:
- Lecithin is dissolved into the water before adding the rest of the ingredients. That is why the enhanced dispersibility in the water of Hydrolyzed Lecithin is an important advantage.
- Mixing and kneading facilitates the emulsion of the ingredients, achieving an even distribution.
- Provides sheetability, workability, and machinability to the noodle dough.
- Prevents stickiness.
- Provides additional stability during the dehydration step.
Advantages of using hydrolyzed lecithin in the product:
- Increases elasticity and chewing feel of the noodles.
- Prevents starch retrogradation.
- Increases crispness in fried noodles.
- Increases the breaking and cutting stress: lecithin increases the binding forces in the noodle, resulting in higher breaking and cutting stresses.
- Increases surface firmness without darkening.
Lasenor’s hydrolyzed lecithin is available from different botanical origins with different brand names:
- VEROLEC® HE for products based on soy lecithin.
- GIRALEC® HE for products based on sunflower lecithin.
- SEMILEC® HE for products based on rapeseed lecithin.
It is possible to gain benefits, both in the final product and during the manufacturing process, by incorporating particular types of lecithin into cereal-based items like cereal bars or extruded breakfast cereals.
In cereal and granola bars, standard lecithin is commonly used as a sticking agent keeping all the ingredients together and balancing the chewy, crunchy texture.
Different botanical origins are available depending on the customer’s needs:
- VEROLEC® (soy lecithin range).
- GIRALEC® (sunflower lecithin range).
- SEMILEC® (rapeseed lecithin range).
When it comes to making breakfast cereals, hydrolyzed lecithin is the ideal ingredient for the extrusion process. It helps to minimize the number of broken pieces that occur during extrusion.
Different botanical origins are available depending on the customer’s needs:
- VEROLEC® HE (hydrolyzed soya lecithin range).
- GIRALEC® HE (hydrolyzed sunflower lecithin range).
- SEMILEC® HE (hydrolyzed rapeseed lecithin range).
