The study – published in Food and Bioproducts Processing – compared key quality parameters of commercially available breakfast cereal granola with product produced by alternative methods in order to gain insights into the best manufacturing and operating methods for the production of granola bars in the future.
Led by Edmond Byrne from University College Cork in Ireland, the research team used a number of quality related properties – including texture, hardness, crispness – to analyse granola products made using different manufacturing techniques at the granulation stage (high shear processing and fluidised bed granulation) against a range of commercially available granola products.
“Commercial granola samples were compared with the granola produced in this study and showed a large variation in terms of size and textural properties across the brands investigated,” said Byrne and his team, adding that while commercial granola’s were found to have considerable variation, the high shear process and fluidised bed process produced consistent size and textures that they suggest could be utilised for different product categories.
“Overall, the high shear granulation process led to larger, denser, less porous and stronger (less likely to break) aggregates compared with the fluidised bed process,” they said.
Product differentiation
As a result of the study the team suggested that the two manufacturing processes and parameters should in future be recommended for the production of different styles of granola product – depending on the type of granola required.
For example they add that products that will be sold as a stand-alone breakfast cereal could be manufactured under different parameters to those intended as accompaniment to yogurt.
“The insights gained from this work can aid in developing processes for the production of granola or similar products to match with consumer and manufacture expectations and requirements,” they said.
“Desired granola quality related properties can be achieved by judiciously selecting both appropriate production processes and associated parameters.”
Source:Food and Bioproducts Processing
Volume 90, Issue 4, Pages 729–736, doi: 10.1016/j.fbp.2012.01.004
“Comparison of quality parameters of granola produced by wet granulation with commercially available product”
Authors: Pankaj B. Pathare, Nursin Baş, Edmond P. Byrne