Abstract: A cereal product is produced continuously from bran using a twin screw extruder which blends and cooks the dry bran with syrup. The cooked mixture is then passed through a headspace between the tips of the extruder screws and the extrusion die, and extruded through a die head having a plurality of bores. The extrudate strands expand only slightly, have a roughened outer surface that is visible to the eye, and spontaneously break into strands almost entirely in the range of 0.1 inch to 2 inches. The strands are then dried and toasted to form bran cereal nuggets.

Abstract: A cereal is produced using bran and a continuous cooker. The continuous cooker is a twin screw extruder which blends and cooks dry ingredients with syrup, but without addition of water. The cooked mixture is then cooled by the injection of water into a cooling zone, which rapidly reduces the temperature and pressure of the material to be extruded. The cooled material, at a temperature of approximately 150.degree. F.-280.degree. F., dependent upon the formulation used, is extruded through a die head having a plurality of bores there-through. The extrudate strands expand only slightly, and have a roughened outer surface that is visible to the eye, and spontaneously break into strands almost entirely in the range of 0.5 inch to 4 inches. The strands are then dried and toasted, to form a bran cereal nuggets cereal.