A process for treating a plant and/or raw food material such as a legume raw material without denaturing the proteins of the plant and/or raw food material. The present method includes a steam-stripping step implemented under high vacuum. The present invention further relates to a system for carrying out the method as well as to the product obtained from the method.

In one embodiment, a method comprises adding a plurality of soybeans to an extractor, the soybeans having an average protein:oil ratio of greater than 2.3, heating the soybeans, removing hulls from the plurality of soybeans, and grinding the plurality of soybeans with water at a temperature between 180 F. and 190 F. to yield a soy extract having hexanal levels of less than 50 parts per billion (ppb).

A water saving and energy saving process the continuous production of whole grain flour and whole gluten-free flour is provided. The process includes preconditioning whole-grain or seed with water and uses an energy efficient blanching treatment with saturated steam. The process also provides flour having a bimodal size mixture of material having improved viscosity. The whole grain and whole gluten-free flour can be used to prepare grain products and baked foods.

The present invention relates to a process for the production of a soybean flour having a high solubility corresponding to an NSI (nitrogen solubility index) value higher than 95%, said process comprising the steps of: i) pre-drying soybeans at a temperature between 40 C. and 60 C. for a time period between 6 hours and 18 hours; a) drying the pre-dried soybeans in a first dryer set at a temperature above 90 C., for a time period between 8 minutes and 18 minutes, obtaining dried soybeans having a temperature between 75 C. and 85 C.; b) subjecting the dried soybeans kept at a temperature lower than 80 C., to dry micronization, thus obtaining a soybean micronizate having a particle size equal to or less than 200 m; c) drying the soybean micronizate in a second dryer set at a temperature between 110 C. and 130 C. for a time period less than 20 seconds, thus obtaining a dried soybean micronizate having a temperature between 75 C. and 85 C.; d) cooling the dried soybean micronizate, thus obtaining the soybean flour having a high solubility; said process not comprising any step of soaking the soybeans and/or the soybean micronizate in water or other aqueous solution; the present invention also relates to a soybean flour having a high solubility corresponding to an NSI (nitrogen solubility index) value higher than 95%, obtainable by the above-mentioned process.

A process is disclosed that includes providing a quantity of plant material, heating the plant material in aqueous medium to a temperature of 75 to 105 C., physically disrupting the resulting material, processing the physically disrupted material by sieving to obtain particles in the size range 20 m to 4 mm and drying the sieved material.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing a legume starch with a high content of slowly digestible fraction (SDS), a heat-moisture treatment method characterized in that it comprises the following steps: 1) Adjusting the water content of the native pea starch to a value of less than 35%, preferably between 20 and 30% by weight, even more preferably between 20 and 25% by weight, 2) Heating the starch thus prepared to a temperature of more than 100 C., preferably from 105 C. to 135 C. for more than 5 hours, preferably for more than 10 hours, and even more preferentially for 24 hours, 3) Recovering and optionally drying the starch thus treated.

This specification discloses methods for removing unwanted flavors from legume protein concentrates, which are powdered legume compositions that have been classified to increase the protein compared to the protein content of the base legume. In at least some embodiments the methods are used to make de-flavored pea protein concentrates. Advantageously, the methods are selected to minimize damage to the de-flavored legume protein concentrates by reference to percent change of denaturation enthalpy compared an untreated legume protein concentrate.

Disclosed are methods of processing raw leguminous materials, such as pea flour, pea concentrate, or pea isolate, to reduce non-volatile flavor components and in particular bound saponin compounds. The methods includes select processing steps by steam cooking a raw slurry to form a cooked slurry and drying the cooked slurry to form a processed material. An amount of non-volatile flavor components in the processed material is less than an amount of non-volatile flavor components in the raw materials.

A method of intentionally pollinating a Poaceae crop by monitoring one or more environmental parameters and intentionally pollinating said crop at a time based upon the monitored parameters. The correct selection of parameters has been shown to markedly increase seed set, yield, and/or other desirable characteristics, including but not limited to preferred content of oil, starch, protein, and/or other nutritional components. Parameters may include one or more of: temperature, relative humidity, and vapor pressure deficit.

The technology disclosed in this specification pertains to a dry solids coating composition comprising blend of a legume flour and legume protein concentrate for use as a partial or complete replacement of wheat flour or non-legume starches or mixture thereof in batters and coatings for food compositions. In various embodiments the legume flour and legume protein concentrate are partially denatured to have a defined amount of starch damage or protein damage.