Hominey-based ingredient should lower glycemic response of foods.

A unique combination of a corn milling by-product known as hominey and other food ingredients has been developed for use in nutritionally rich cereals and snack foods. The novel combination adds value to hominey, say the project's research partners, Corson Grain and Crop & Food Research, both of New Zealand.

Corson Grain executives are talking with a large cereal and snack food producer interested in manufacturing new products in New Zealand and Australia. They are also interested in talking with brewers about feeding this novel ingredient to yeast during fermentation.

Two years ago, Corson executives asked maize scientist Allan Hardacre of Crop & Food Research to find a way to add value to hominey. Hominey is the product that results after recombining maize fractions from the dry milling process that is used for producing corn grits from whole maize. Currently, Corson's hominey is used for animal feed and pet food in New Zealand and overseas. The by-product is about half the whole corn kernel and contains the bran, tip caps, germ and tailing streams. Hominey is nutritionally valuable and contains protein, fiber and oil.

The hominey base of the new ingredient should help lower the glycemic response of food products. This will enable food manufacturers to promote the sustained energy-release qualities of products containing the ingredient. The glycemic response of a food is a measure of the food's ability to elevate blood sugar. The glycemic response is influenced by the amount of food you eat, its fiber content, fat content or amount of added fat, and the way the food is prepared.

The key to the breakthrough involves how the raw ingredients are combined. Scientists found a way to combine the hominey with other ingredients that enabled them to process the ingredients in a conventional extruder to produce a product like a rice bubble. Research included creating combinations with a wide range of grain proteins to confer increased protein levels in snack foods. The objective was to produce a product with reduced glycemic response and increased satiety. Scientists developed snack food, breakfast cereal and snack bar products with enhanced nutritional profiles. The cereal products also have pleasant creamy flavors and an increased bowl life. Bars are crispier, crunchier and last longer, we're told.

Further information. Bridget Radford, Business Manager, Crop & Food Research, Private Bag 4704, Christ Church, New Zealand; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. Shane Lamont, General Manager, Corson Grain Ltd., P.O. Box 1046, Gisborne 3815, New Zealand; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]; URL: www.corson.co.nz.