Flour containing protein and fiber made from wet-mill corn germ, with potential food use

Abstract

Flour containing 30% protein, 5.9% lysine, generous amount of food fiber and a good balance of other essential amino acids was prepared from wet-mill corn germ. It represented the upgrading of a present feed by-product to a product with potentially valuable food uses. To prepare the flour, dried wet-mill corn germ was first aspirated to remove the hull and, after flaking, fat was removed by solvent extraction. A 2nd extraction of the flakes with 82:18 hexane/ethanol azeotrope via refluxing achieved very low fat levels in the final product. The ground flour contained approximately 2% ash, 18% starch, 26% pentosans, 12% cellulose and 0.6% lignin, but starch content may vary, depending on processing conditions.