2152 International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015, 50, 2152–2159

Original article
Properties of extruded whole grain cereals and pseudocereals
flours

Fr
ed
eric Robin,1* Christine Th
eoduloz2 & Sathaporn Srichuwong2

1 Nestl
e Product Technology Center Orbe, Nestec Ltd, Route de Chavornay 3, 1350 Orbe, Switzerland
2 Department of Food Science and Technology, Nestl
e Research Center, PO Box 44, 1000 Lausanne, Switzerland
(Received 12 May 2015; Accepted in revised form 2 June 2015)

Summary Common cereals such as wheat are widely used worldwide in extruded products. Nevertheless, other
locally available grains would be beneficial for local consumers regarding taste preference, nutritional
needs and sustainability. Locally available cereals, that is millet, teff, sorghum and pseudocereals, that is
quinoa and amaranth flours were extruded at the same processing conditions, and the resulting properties
were compared to those of extruded refined wheat flour. Amaranth flour contained the highest protein
content (16%). Sorghum was the highest in calories because of its high lipid content (10%). The extrusion
process greatly increased a water solubility index (WSI) of amaranth from 11% to 61%, while the WSI
level of quinoa was almost not affected (WSI of 4%). The expansion properties varied differently among
grain types. These grains had a sectional expansion index (SEI) ranging between 11 and 13, which could
not achieve the performance of the refined wheat (SEI of 22). The lowest expansion was observed for
amaranth flour which contained the lowest starch content. Sorghum extrudates, interestingly, provided
comparable stress at rupture value to that of wheat. For the mechanical properties, none of these local
grains could fully replace refined wheat at the employed extrusion conditions.
Keywords Expansion, extrusion, fibres, starch, whole grain.

one of the most nutritious grains because of its high

Introduction
protein content and excellent composition of essential
Cereals are the main sources of dietary carbohydrates amino acids such as lysine, methionine and cysteine
for human nutrition. Common refined wheat and (Repo-Carrasco-Valencia & Serna, 2011). Like quinoa,
maize flours are readily used in extruded foods due to amaranth is also a good source of protein (14–16%
their low price and high availability. For the majority dry bases) with high lysine content (Taylor & Emmam-
of food products, refined flours are preferred due to bux, 2008). In addition, unlike wheat, these local cere-
their bland taste and ease of processing compared to als and pseudocereals can be used in gluten-free
whole grain flours (Brennan et al., 2013). Nevertheless, application.
during grain refining, most nutritious fractions, that is Refined wheat or maize flour is intensively used as a
bran and germ are removed. As a result, refined flours raw material in extruded product such as breakfast
are mostly composed of carbohydrates. cereals or extruded savoury snacks. These common
In some areas of the world, local grains may be cereals provided high expansion capacity and appreci-
more suited to the taste preference, nutrition needs of ated textural properties. Local availability, taste pref-
local populations as well as sustainability. In this erence and potential nutritional advantage of other
regard, millet, teff, sorghum, quinoa and amaranth are local grains would be beneficial for development of
grains of interest. Millet, teff and sorghum are cereals new extruded products; providing these grains can
grown in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Quinoa and deliver a similar properties to that processed from
amaranth are pseudocereals, mostly produced in South refined wheat or maize flours. To completely or poten-
America. Their global production is, however, rela- tially replace common cereals in extruded products,
tively small compared to the common crops. Quinoa is the expansion and mechanical properties of these grain
alternatives should be intensively studied and evalu-
*Correspondent: Fax: +41-24-4427021; ated. Comparative studies on the effect of extrusion on
e-mail: frederic.robin@rdor.nestle.com these grains, however, are scarce, especially at the

doi:10.1111/ijfs.12893
© 2015 Institute of Food Science and Technology
 Properties of extruded whole grain flours F. Robin et al. 2153

same processing conditions. Previous studies showed and Pmax is the maximum engine power (27 kW). A
that the extrusion parameters significantly affect circular die with a length Ld of 10 mm and a diameter
expansion properties of pearl millet (Sumathi et al., Dd of 3.2 mm was used. The extruded samples were
2007), sorghum (Gomez et al., 1988; Lu & Walker, collected and slowly dried in an oven at 60 °C for
1988), teff (Stojceska et al., 2010), amaranth (Ch
avez- 16 h.
J

auregui et al., 2000) and quinoa (Dogan & Karwe,
2003). In these previous works, influence of starch
Chemical composition
physicochemical properties on extrusion of cereals
was, however, not fully evaluated. Total ash content was obtained using the AOAC
The above-mentioned cereals and pseudocereals method 900.02. Protein content was measured using
flours may be used to fully or partially replace refined AOAC method 992.23 (conversion factor of 6.25), fat
wheat flour to improve the nutritional profile of content using ISO 8262 method and soluble/insoluble
extruded cereals-based products. Aims of this study dietary fibre using AOAC 2011.25. Total starch and
were to investigate the performance of commercial mil- amylose contents were obtained using essay kits from
let, teff, sorghum, quinoa and amaranth flours on Megazyme (Megazyme Int., Wicklow, Ireland).
extrusion in comparison with common refined wheat
flour. Within this frame, all flours were extruded at a
Physicochemical properties
same condition. Their expansion and mechanical prop-
erties were assessed. The resulting extrusion properties Dynamic scanning calorimetry
are discussed in relation to starch transformation. Starch gelatinisation temperature was determined in
excess of water (ratio ground sample/water of 1:3) in
sealed mid-pressure aluminium pan (Mettler Toledo,
Material & methods
Greifensee, Switzerland) using a differential scanning
calorimeter (DSC 823e; Mettler Toledo). The samples
Material
were heated from
5 to 160 °C at 5 K min
1. The
Wholegrain flours of sorghum, proso millet (partially endothermic transition of starch was analysed with
dehulled), teff, amaranth and quinoa were obtained Star SystemÒ v.9.01 software (Mettler Toledo, Switzer-
from ConAgra Mills (Omaha, NE, USA). Refined land). The dissociation temperature of starch crystal-
wheat flour type 550 was obtained from Grands Mou- lites was determined at the peak (Tpk) of the
lins de Cossonay (Cossonay, Switzerland). transition.

Water solubility index

Extrusion conditions
Water solubility index (WSI) was determined accord-
A co-rotating double screw extruder (Evolum 25) from ing to the method of Anderson et al. (1969). The
Clextral (Firminy, France) was used with a barrel extruded samples were ground and sieved through a
length Le of 400 mm and a screw diameter De of 250-lm mesh. Samples (2.5 g) were dispersed in deion-
25 mm (Le/De ratio of 16). The screw configuration ised water (30 mL), agitated at room temperature
was composed of conveying and mixing elements with (22  1 °C) for 30 min and centrifuged at 9000 g at
reverse elements in the last section of the barrel. The 25 °C for 15 min. The supernatant was dried in an
extruder was operated at a constant feed rate of oven overnight at 105 °C. The WSI was calculated
10 kg h
1. The barrel was composed of four zones according to equation (2):
heated at 40, 80, 120 and 140 °C, respectively. The Supernatant dry weight
temperature of the melt at the extruded exit, before WSI ¼  100 ð2Þ
the die entrance, was measured using a thermocouple Sample dry weight
(Type J; ROTH+CO. A.G., Oberuzwil, Switzerland).
The screw was rotated at a constant speed of Pasting profiles
400 r.p.m. The water content in the feed was set to Pasting profiles of extruded samples were evaluated
20%. The specific mechanical energy (SME) was calcu- using a Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA-4; Newport Scien-
lated as follows: tific, Jessup, MD, USA). Ground extruded samples
nact
 M
nnmax
act
 Munload (<250 lm, 20% d.m. 0.1 M AgNO3) were left 15 min
nmax
SME ¼  Pmax ð1Þ at room temperature to allow hydration of the solid
mtotal material prior to measurement. The samples were held
M and Munload are the motor torque (in Nm) under 1 min at 50 °C, heated to 95 °C at 11 K min
1, held
load and without load, nact and nmax are the actual at 95 °C for 150 s and cooled to 50 °C at 6.5 K min
1
and maximum screw speed, mtotal is the mass flow rate, under stirring at 160 r.p.m. The peak viscosity and

© 2015 Institute of Food Science and Technology International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015
2154 Properties of extruded whole grain flours F. Robin et al.

corresponding time were recorded using the Thermo- jection extended to a cone-beam geometry. A voxel
cline software (v. 2.2; Newport Scientific) in duplicate. size of 6 lm was selected to capture the thin cell walls
while scanning a statistically significant part of each
sample. A volume of interest (VOI) was selected and
Expansion characterisation
segmented, and the porosity of the pellet was calcu-
Bulk expansion characterisation lated as the ratio of the volume of the cells to the
Expansion was characterised using the volumetric, sec- entire VOI. The cell size and cell wall thickness distri-
tional and longitudinal expansion indices as defined by butions were calculated using the method developed
Alvarez-Martinez et al. (1988). The volumetric expan- by Hildebrand & R€ uegsegger (1997). The density of
sion index (VEI) was obtained according to equation unconnected cells was calculated using a component
(3): labelling operation. Only the cells larger than the aver-
q ð 1
Wm Þ age cell wall thickness were taken into account in the
VEI ¼ m ð3Þ
qe ð1
We Þ calculation of the cell density to exclude voids com-
prising only a few voxels and originating from mea-
q and W are the density and the moisture content surement noise.
(wet basis), and m and e refer to melt and extrudate,
respectively. The raw material density, used to estimate Mechanical properties
the melt and the cell wall material densities, was mea- The mechanical properties of the extruded foams were
sured by helium pycnometry (Accupyc 1330; Micro- measured using a three-point bending test performed
metrics, Verneuil en Halatte, France). From the on a texture analyser (TA-HDi; Stable Microsystems,
volumetric expansion index, the relative density can be Godalming, UK). The analyser was equipped with a
calculated according to equation (4): 50-kg load cell, and a cross-head speed of 1 mm s
1
1 was applied. The samples were equilibrated prior to
q ¼ ð4Þ testing at a water activity of 0.30 in humidity cabinets
VEI (C+10/60; CTS A.G., Germany). The rupture stress r*
And the porosity e is obtained from equation (5) and elastic modulus E* of the extruded samples were
derived from the maximum force at rupture F and the
e ¼ ð1
q Þ  100 ð5Þ slope of the linear part of the force (F) vs. cross-head
The extrudate bulk density qe was measured by bead displacement (d) curves, respectively. The stress at rup-
displacement (three repetitions on five pieces). ture was calculated according to equation (8) (seven
The longitudinal expansion index (LEI) was repeats) (Alaoui et al., 2008):
obtained from equation (6): FL
r ¼ 3 ð8Þ
pD2d ð 1
Wm Þ pr
LEI ¼ Lse qm ð6Þ
4 ð 1
We Þ r is the sample average radius, and Ls is the distance
between the supports (L = 50 mm).
Dd is the diameter of the die. Lse is the specific
length of the extrudate, defined as the extrudate length
Statistical analysis
(measured with a vernier calliper on ten samples) per
mass unit of extrudate. Comparison between two average values was per-
The sectional expansion index (SEI) was obtained formed using the Student t-test (two-sided).
from equation (3) and (6).
Results & discussion
VEI
SEI ¼ ð7Þ
LEI Chemical composition
Composition of the unprocessed flours is shown in
Cellular structure characterisation Table 1. Among the grains studied, amaranth was char-
A high-resolution desktop cone-beam X-ray micro– acterised by the lowest content of starch (56.3%) and
computed tomography system (Scanco lCT 35; Scanco the highest levels of protein (16.6%) and dietary fibre
Medical AG, Br€ utisellen, Switzerland) was used to (11.8%). Its protein content was higher than that of
assess the cellular structure characteristics. It consisted refined wheat flour (12.5%). Sorghum had the highest
of a microfocused sealed X-ray tube operating at a starch (79.6%) and lipid contents (10.5%) but the low-
voltage of 55 kV and at a current of 145 lA. X-ray est protein level (6.4%). Quinoa and teff showed similar
images were acquired every 0.18°. The reconstruction starch (65.6% and 65.4%, respectively) and protein con-
of the image used a Shepp & Logan filtered back-pro- tents (12.8% and 11.2%, respectively). Millet had simi-

International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015 © 2015 Institute of Food Science and Technology
 Properties of extruded whole grain flours F. Robin et al. 2155

Table 1 Composition of flours prior to extrusion and water solubility index (WSI) prior to and after extrusion

Dietary fibre
Protein Lipid Starch Amylose Ash WSI prior WSI after
[% d.b.] [% d.b.] Insoluble [% d.b.] Soluble [% d.b.] [% d.b.] [% of starch] [% d.b] extrusion [°C] extrusion [°C]

Wheat 12.5d,c 1.5a 1.5a 3.9f 77.2d 24.0d,c 0.6a 6.2c 36.8e
Quinoa 12.8e,d,c 7.0e 6.7c 2.7d,c 65.6c,b 8.8b 2.8e,d 11.1f 23.5c
Amaranth 16.6f 2.0b,a 9.1f 2.7e,d,c 56.3a 3.6a 3.3f 10.6e 60.8f
Millet 8.0b 4.5d 2.7b 0.9a 77.7e,d 26.0e,d,c 1.6c,b 3.4a 4.1a
Teff 11.2c 3.6c 8.4e 2.5c 65.4b 22.0c 2.6d 7.2d 29.9d
Sorghum 6.4a 10.5f 7.6d 1.1b 79.6f 30.0f 1.5b 4.4b 13.6b

Small letters indicate significance of the difference between two data.

lar starch content to wheat (77.7% and 77.2%, respec- and reduce starch transformation extent during extru-
tively). Amylose content was the highest for sorghum sion. Dietary fibres were reported to be slightly modi-
(30%) and the lowest for amaranth (3.6%). Most of the fied after extrusion (Robin et al., 2012; Oliveira et al.,
local grains contained greater amount of total dietary 2015).
fibre in comparison with wheat flour. Only millet Pasting profiles of the unprocessed flours are dis-
showed a lower level of total dietary fibre compared to played in Fig. S1a. The pasting profiles were charac-
wheat flour. Soluble dietary fibre level in wheat was terised by a peak of viscosity, corresponding to the
higher than that of insoluble dietary fibre. full swelling of the starch granules, followed by shear
Extrusion leads to the formation of water-soluble thinning and viscosity increase during cooling caused
molecules which are captured by the measurement of by re-association of starch molecules. Unlike other
the water solubility index (WSI). The WSI values prior grains, quinoa did not show peak viscosity and shear
to and after extrusion are shown in Table 1. Low lev- thinning as its viscosity gradually increased during the
els of soluble material (3.4–11.1%) were found in the time course of analysis. This property was in agree-
unprocessed flours. Pseudocereals, that is quinoa and ment with the previous report for quinoa starches with
amaranth flours had higher WSI levels (10.6–11.1%) low amylose content (Lindeboom et al., 2005). The
than other cereals (3.4–7.2%). This low level of soluble lack of peak of viscosity implied that quinoa starch
material may be obtained during flour preparation. granules would not achieve their highest swelling
The increase level of WSI after extrusion was found to capacity at the given condition. High peak viscosities
vary considerably with the grain sources. WSI of ama- were obtained for wheat (2010  1 mPa s), sorghum
ranth dramatically changed from 11% to 61% after (1800  15 mPa s) and millet (1500  80 mPa s),
extrusion, implying that amaranth grain structure was while teff displayed the lowest viscosity
highly susceptible to degradation during extrusion. (720  10 mPa). The differences in pasting properties
High increase in WSI levels after extrusion was also of the flours would be due to several factors including
shown for teff (22.7%) and wheat (30.6%). Lesser starch content, starch molecular structure and contri-
changes in WSI levels were shown for quinoa (12.4%) bution of other grain components. There were, how-
and sorghum (9.2%). Interestingly, WSI level of millet ever, no significant relationships between peak
was not significantly changed by extrusion, that is viscosity and starch content (linear correlation factor
from 3.4% to 4.1%. r2 = 0.64) or total amylose content (r2 = 0.42). In com-
Differences in WSI changes among the grains would parison with other grains, teff and amaranth exhibited
be the interplay of several factors such as starch and lower peak, breakdown viscosity and set-back viscosi-
lipid contents, starch crystalline structure and particle ties (compared to the other sources) (Fig. S1a). The
size. The highest WSI increase shown for amaranth low viscosity development of quinoa, amaranth and
would be due to its lowest starch content. At the same teff might be due to their low starch contents
water content in the extruder, higher amount of free (Table 1), small granule size (Lindeboom et al., 2004;
water was available for starch transformation in ama- Hager et al., 2012) and formation of amylose–lipid
ranth. Wheat and millet showed similar content of complexes (Srichuwong et al., 2005).
starch (77.2% and 77.7%, respectively). These grains DSC results of the unprocessed ingredients are dis-
were extruded at a similar level of specific mechanical played in Table S1 and in Fig. 1. All sources showed a
energy (440–480 kJ kg
1) (Table 1); however, they major endothermic transition around 60–80 °C, corre-
were highly different regarding to WSI after extrusion. sponding to full dissociation of the starch crystallites.
Low WSI level of millet as well that of quinoa and The temperature at the peak of this transition (Tpk)
sorghum to extrusion would be partly attributed to was comparable for amaranth, millet, sorghum and
their high lipid contents. Lipids may lubricate the melt teff, comprised between 73 and 81 °C. It was higher

© 2015 Institute of Food Science and Technology International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015
2156 Properties of extruded whole grain flours F. Robin et al.

(a)

(b)

Figure 1 DSC thermographs of unpro-

cessed and extruded cereals/pseudocereals
flours (Peak temperature Tpk).

than the ones of quinoa and wheat (64.5 and 63.3 °C, endothermic event for the dissociation of starch crys-
respectively). A higher level of amylose in starch was tallites disappeared for all grain sources, indicating
reported to decrease melting temperature of starch that starch crystallites were dissociated during extru-
(e.g. Fredricksson et al., 1998), however, this trend sion. The disappearance of this endothermic transition
was not observed in this study. The lower melting tem- indicates full disruption of the starch crystallites.
perature of wheat and amaranth would be due to the Endothermic transition with the peak temperature at
molecular structure of amylopectin branches. Jane about 115 °C was observed for millet after extrusion.
et al. (1999) previously reported that starches having Similar finding was also observed for pearl millet after
amylopectin with shorter branch chains dissociated at extrusion (Sumathi et al., 2007). This peak would
lower temperature. All flours showed a second transi- correspond to the formation of amylose–lipid com-
tion with a higher peak temperature around 100 °C; plexes as well as retrograded starch molecules after
however, these peaks had much smaller enthalpy extrusion.
changes in comparison with the main endothermic Figure S1b shows the pasting profile of the extru-
peaks. This transition may result from the dissociation dates determined by RVA. In general, all ground
of amylose–lipid complexes embedded in some starch extrudates generated very little viscosity (about 70–
granules as previously reported (Kugimiya et al., 1980; 300 mPa s) under the given condition. The results
Morrison et al., 1984). After extrusion, the major indicated that most starch crystallites and granular

International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015 © 2015 Institute of Food Science and Technology
 Properties of extruded whole grain flours F. Robin et al. 2157

structures were disrupted in extrusion process. In com- effect on the specific mechanical energy (SME).
parison with other extrudates, the amaranth did not Indeed, a positive linear relationship (r2 = 0.87) could
show any viscosity development, which is in agreement be observed between the starch content and the SME,
with the highest WSI level and the absence of the that is. the higher the starch content, the higher the
remaining endothermic event determined by DSC. The SME. Proso millet and wheat had similar starch con-
findings, suggested that starch granular structure of tent, but wheat showed significantly higher expansion
amaranth was fully disrupted after extrusion, and the volumes (Table S1). Starch cannot be the sole driver
formation of new crystalline molecules such as amy- of expansion. The higher lipid content, which may
lose–lipid complexes and retrograded starches did not lubricate the melt in the extruder and reduce its degree
occur. In contrast, extrudates from quinoa, sorghum of transformation, may explain this result. Other
and millet showed small peaks of about 200– parameters such as a high content of dietary fibre and
300 mPa s (Fig. S1b). Shear-thinning characteristics especially of insoluble ones may explain reduced
were also observed for these extrudates with a decrease expansion volumes. Indeed, insoluble dietary fibres
in viscosity during heating and maintaining at 95 °C. were showed to induce bubble burst at the die exit,
Similar observation was also shown for wheat and teff thus reducing expansion (Brennan et al., 2008).
at the beginning of hydration and heating steps. A The cellular characteristics of the extruded samples
similar pasting profile of extruded wheat flour was also were investigated using micro-computed X-ray tomog-
previously reported by Robin et al. (2011a). These raphy. 2D images are displayed in Fig. 2. The relative
pasting properties may indicate the reminiscence of density (q*), indicating porosity (see eqns 4 and 5),
some ordered structures after extrusion, which might mean cell size (MCS), mean cell wall thickness
be in an amorphous form according to the DSC analy- (MCWT) and cell density (Nc) are reported in
sis. Table S1. The porosity is one of the key parameters
driven textural properties such as crispiness or light-
ness. As expected from the high expansion volumes,
Effect of cereals/pseudocereals sources on expansion
extruded wheat showed the lowest relative density (and
properties
therefore the highest porosity, 93%). The porosity of
Expansion properties of extruded samples were evalu- extruded sorghum was close to the one of wheat
ated by measuring the sectional expansion (SEI) and (90.3% and 93%, respectively). The other crops
longitudinal expansion (LEI) indices. The volumetric showed a significantly lower porosity ranging between
expansion index (VEI) was obtained by multiplying 82% and 88%. The mean cell size of the extruded sam-
SEI by LEI. All three parameters can be plotted on ples ranged between 700 and 2100 lm, the mean cell
the expansion chart displayed in Fig. S2. The extruded wall thickness between 80 and 190 lm and the cell den-
samples showed a favoured sectional expansion with sity between 190 and 520 cm
3. Wheat had the highest
SEI0.5>>LEI. LEI was very close for all the samples, MCS while teff showed the highest density of cells and
comprised between 0.6 and 0.8. Extruded wheat flour the lowest MCS. The higher cell density of extruded
showed the highest VEI (15  2), that is the highest amaranth, teff and sorghum may be explained by their
porosity. It also revealed the highest SEI (22  3), higher levels of insoluble fibre, promoting a higher
that is the highest diameter. Extruded sorghum, qui- nucleation degree at the die exit (Robin et al., 2011b).
noa, millet and teff had similar SEI (14, 13, 12 and 11,
respectively), significantly smaller than the one of
(a) (b) (c)
extruded wheat flour. Among these four sources, sor-
ghum displayed the highest VEI (10  1). No clear
correlation could be observed between VEI, SEI or
LEI and starch content. Nevertheless, it can be hy-
pothesised that the high level of starch in refined
wheat flour is responsible for its high expansion vol-
umes. Amaranth had the lowest SEI and VEI, which
(d) (e) (f)
may therefore be explained by its low starch content.
The low expansion volumes of amaranth may be fur-
ther explained by its high solubility after extrusion,
reflected by the high value of WSI (Table 1). Indeed,
starches that are degraded to a high extent in the
extruder were reported to little expand. This was
explained by a high collapse of the extrudate at the die
exit (Moraru & Kokini, 2003). The effect of starch Figure 2 X-ray tomography of extruded cereals/pseudocereals flours
content on the expansion mechanism is reflected by its (a: wheat, b: quinoa, c: amaranth, d: teff, e: millet, f: sorghum).

© 2015 Institute of Food Science and Technology International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015
2158 Properties of extruded whole grain flours F. Robin et al.

Mechanical properties of extruded cereals/pseudocereals increase in solubility, likely induced by fragmentation

of starch molecules, indicates a high sensitivity to
Crispiness and lightness are key preference drivers for
extrusion and may be attributed to its low starch con-
extruded cereal products. They are mostly defined by
tent. On the opposite, millet and sorghum are almost
the mechanical properties of the product during its
not affected by extrusion with only slight or no change
mastication. These mechanical properties can be mea-
in WSI. Their higher lipid content may explain these
sured instrumentally and linked to in-mouth sensory
results as lipids may lubricate the melt during
properties (Roudaut et al., 2002). A three-point bend-
extrusion and reduce the shearing forces. Extruded
ing test was used in this study to assess mechanical
wheat showed the highest expansion volumes, and
properties. For all flours, the compression curve
none of the other crops could reach its performance.
showed a linear increase in stress at low strain and a
There was no clear relationship between expansion
fracture at higher strain, resulting in a marked
volumes and starch content, although amaranth
decrease in stress. Such curves are typical of elastic
showed the lowest expansion volumes and starch con-
brittle foams as described by Gibson and Ashby
tent. This indicates that, in this study, starch was not
(1997). The force at rupture (F) can be used to
the sole driver of expansion. Extruded wheat showed
describe hardness of the sample. The values of F
the lowest stress at rupture, meaning it is the most
showed a low reproducibility due to the high heteroge-
brittle of all samples. This can be attributed to its high
neity in the samples’ dimensions and cellular structure.
level of porosity. Extruded sorghum was close to
Teff and amaranth required the highest force to rup-
wheat in porosity and stress at rupture. In this study,
ture (5.9  0.9 and 5.4  1.1 MPa, respectively).
none of the studied crops could fully replace refined
Wheat and quinoa had close values of F, although not
wheat flour while maintaining similar expansion prop-
significantly different from the other cereals/pseudoce-
erties. Optimising the extrusion conditions of these
reals (4.4  1.3 and 4.7  1.3 MPa). The lowest val-
crops may nevertheless allow to rich higher expansion
ues of F were obtained for millet and sorghum
volumes and get closer to properties of refined wheat.
(3.3  1.4 and 3.5  0.6 MPa). The force necessary to
rupture the extruded samples can be explained by sev-
eral parameters including dimensions, porosity, poros- Acknowledgments
ity structure (i.e. cell size, cell wall thickness and
density of cells) and mechanical properties of the cell The authors would like to thank Julien Hugo for his
wall material. To normalise the effect of the diameter contribution to the extrusion trials, and Carine Meyer
of the samples on the mechanical properties, the stress and C
edric Dubois for their supports concerning
at rupture was calculated. The relative density (q*) X-ray tomography analyses.
and stress at rupture (r*) of the different extruded
samples are displayed in Table S1. The parameter hav- References
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Oliveira, L.C., Rosell, C.M. & Steel, C.J. (2015). Effect of the addi- Figure S1. Pasting profile of cereals/pseudocereals
tion of whole-grain wheat flour and or extrusion process parame-
ters on dietary fiber content, starch transformation and mechanical
flours prior to extrusion (a) and after extrusion (b).
properties of a ready-to-eat breakfast cereal. International Journal Figure S2. Expansion chart of extruded cereals/
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