It is hardly possible to find at least one child, adult or respectable old man who does not know the taste of corn sticks. This crunchy treat has captivated us since childhood, along with ice cream, sweet soda, lollipops and cotton candy. We often take a package of treats with us on a walk, a picnic, to school, or to work so that we can have a tasty snack when we get hungry. Corn sticks store well and are inexpensive, so they can make excellent company for a traveler going on a trip.
History of Corn Delight
The ancestors of corn sticks were flakes made from this cereal. They were accidentally invented at the end of the 19th century by the brothers of the Kellogg family from America. While preparing porridge from maize flour (maize is sweet corn) for the guests of the Battle Creek sanatorium, they overlooked the process and overcooked the dish.
In order not to throw away an impressive portion of the product, resourceful, and perhaps practical and even greedy, owners of the establishment decided to make maize dough from the sticky mass. But after passing through the rollers, the pressed dough turned into flakes.
To improve the taste and make the corn flakes crispy, they are fried in aromatic corn oil. As a result, the product was saved and served as a new dish, which the guests of the sanatorium liked. Some time later, on May 31, 1895, US entrepreneurs received a patent for the “Technology for preparing Hulled Corn Cereals.”
About 50 years later, with the development of physics as a science and the introduction of extrusion technology into the food industry, the now familiar corn sticks began to be produced in the States. In the Soviet Union, the first production of this product was established in 1963 at the Food Concentrates Plant in the city of Dnepropetrovsk. Today, in many countries, large and small enterprises are successfully operating, producing corn sticks of various shapes, sizes and tastes.
Raw materials for the puffed treat, its composition and calorie content
The name of the crispy product speaks for itself: corn sticks are made from corn grits.
According to technology, it is advisable to use high quality hard, glassy corn. The cereal is crushed to the state of fine cereals or flour - this is the main ingredient of the delicacy (approximately 98-99% of the total mass of the finished product). It also contains refined vegetable oil (usually sunflower oil) and salt. The surface of the sticks is often glazed with powdered sugar.
As additional components, depending on the recipe, manufacturers add cocoa powder, artificial and food colors, flavors, flavorings (for example, “cheese”, “bacon”), flavor enhancers, preservatives, stabilizers. This is the composition of corn sticks.
The crispy and melt-in-your-mouth delicacy is very high in calories, which should be taken into account when preparing a fasting diet.
Attention! Calorie content of corn sticks: 520 kcal per 100 g.
Industrial production of corn sticks
The production of air sticks is a rather complex technological process that can only be carried out with special equipment. Before a food product, similar to dried oblong foam, is sold, the cereal crop is processed in several stages.
First, the grain is cleaned of the outer shell and germinal sprouts. Next, the cereal is thoroughly crushed and sifted. Salt and a little water are added to this raw material. The resulting mass is then extruded using an industrial extruder. In this apparatus, the raw materials are exposed to high temperature and pressure for a short time, as a result the mass acquires the consistency of plastic dough.
At the next stage, the corn mass enters the extruder matrix, which has holes of different shapes (the shape of the finished products depends on this, the outer edges of which can be round, square or star-shaped). A rapid change in pressure occurs on the matrix (its drop), as a result of which the adhesive mass seems to “explode”, foams, increasing in volume. An industrial knife cuts the released air sticks so that their length is on average 2-3 cm.
The corn sticks that just come out of the machine are a little moist and don’t have a crispy feel. To impart the desired qualities, they are dried in a special drum. After this, the product is sent to a coating complex, in which a thin layer of heated vegetable oil is sprayed onto the sticks and crushed flavoring additives are applied. Flavorings are also added here, powdered sugar, which melts when it hits the warm butter. When dry, it acquires the properties of glaze. The last stage is packaging of finished sticks and transportation to storage or point of sale.
The process of producing one portion of delicacy at factories takes an average of 10 minutes. Depending on the power of the devices, the manufacturer can produce from 1 to 3 tons of product during an 8-hour working day. Small enterprises more often purchase low-power devices, the efficiency of which is 30 kg of sticks per hour. Medium and large enterprises prefer devices with a capacity of 100 to 250 kg of finished product over a similar period of time.
The benefits and harms of a popular product
The question of the benefits and harms of corn sticks is primarily of concern to parents, because the main connoisseurs of the delicacy are children. During production, exposure to heat converts corn starch into components that are easily absorbed by the digestive system. When consuming the product, “fast carbohydrates” saturate the blood with glucose in a short period of time. And glucose provides the strength and energy that a growing body needs. If the product contains natural juices (fruit, vegetable), then its benefits increase even more.
However, excessive consumption of corn sticks, due to their impressive calorie content and high glycemic index, is not recommended for overweight people with diabetes. A product eaten in large quantities can also cause bloating due to increased formation of gases in the intestines.
An airy dessert that contains chemical flavoring and aromatic additives and preservatives is best excluded from the diet of children under 3 years of age and those with allergies. During the processing of raw materials, the bulk of the beneficial substances in the cereal are destroyed, dietary fiber is removed, which contributes to normal peristalsis and intestinal segmentation. For this reason, it is better not to overuse corn sticks, even if they are made without the addition of harmful components.
It is impossible to make sweet corn sticks at home without special equipment. A device such as a professional extruder cannot be replaced with a pastry bag or meat grinder.
Dried foam made from cornmeal, which is essentially corn sticks, is loved by children of all ages. Recently, their range on grocery store shelves has expanded significantly. You can find not only a sweet product, but also salty sticks with different flavors, as well as in chocolate or various glazes.
There is a special machine for the production of corn sticks - an extruder, a unit similar to a large meat grinder. Corn grits with other components are loaded into its working chamber, where under the influence of high temperatures and pressure the mixture begins to melt, changing its structure.
The fluid-viscous mass is pressed by a screw through the dies (outlet holes). This is where the fun begins: the temperature and pressure of the feedstock drop sharply, the water evaporates almost instantly, and porous and airy sticks appear.
Calorie content and composition
The composition of many children's favorite delicacy does not contain many components. To make corn sticks, you only need corn grits (in industrial production, grits are used, not flour), refined and deodorized vegetable oil, finely ground table salt and powdered sugar for coating (sometimes it is mixed with milk powder or cocoa).
Of course, modern manufacturers often additionally use dyes, flavor enhancers, preservatives and stabilizers. Such ingredients make the taste more intense, but the benefits of consuming such a product are significantly reduced.
The average calorie content of sweet puffed corn sticks is 518 kcal/100 g. The ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, respectively, is 6/28/58.
Benefits and harm to the body
The benefits and harms of corn sticks are simultaneously due to their high carbohydrate content. If corn porridge is rich in “slow” carbohydrates, which are more difficult to digest by the body, then under the influence of heat and mechanical processing the carbohydrates in corn sticks become “fast”. Therefore, after consuming this product, the level of glucose in the blood quickly increases, and the body is charged with energy.
But this positive aspect also has a downside. The same heat treatment almost completely destroys the vitamins A and E contained in the cereal. However, you can replenish the supply of vitamins while eating sticks by simply pouring juice over them. Such a breakfast will charge you not only with energy, but also with vitamins.
But it is worth remembering that if the body does not use up “fast” carbohydrates in the near future, then they will just as quickly settle as extra centimeters and an orange peel on the waist and hips. This is another possible harm to the body.
Who should limit consumption?
There are a number of categories of people who should limit their consumption of corn sticks or avoid them altogether:
- Children under one year old. Older children can be given a sweet treat covered in powdered sugar as a dessert, but sticks with artificial flavors should be avoided altogether.
- Nursing mothers, since babies may experience allergic reactions or flatulence.
- People with diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases, obesity, especially during exacerbation.
How to cook at home?
How corn sticks are made on an industrial scale is already known, and now it’s time to find out whether this dessert can be repeated at home and how to do it.
Not a single housewife has an extruder in her kitchen to replicate the technology, so you won’t be able to prepare an identical product at home, but you can prepare a sweet, airy dessert with a similar taste that is as close as possible to the desired result.
For corn sticks at home you need to take:
- 220 g powdered sugar;
- 4 egg whites;
- 130 g corn flour.
The process of making homemade sticks:
- Sift the corn flour through a fine sieve and mix with half the total amount of powdered sugar.
- Beat the egg whites to stable, strong peaks along with the remaining powdered sugar.
- Then combine the meringue and the flour-powder mixture. At first the dough will be thick, but after kneading with a spatula it will become smooth and fluid.
- Transfer the dough into a pastry bag and place sticks on a baking sheet covered with parchment or a silicone mat and dry them for 15 minutes in the oven at 150 degrees.
Recipes for desserts made from corn sticks
Ant Hill Cake
To make a tasty treat - a cake made from corn sticks and toffees, it is enough to have a quarter of an hour and the following ingredients:
- 200 g sweet corn sticks;
- 500 g of Toffee candies;
- 180 g butter.
How to make a cake without baking:
- To ensure that there are no voids in the ant hill, use a knife to chop the corn sticks a little, but not too finely.
- Place the butterscotch and butter on low heat and stir constantly until the mixture is smooth and uniform in consistency.
- Pour the sticks into the butter and toffee cream, stir and quickly (since the mass sets quickly) place on a serving dish and form a mound. Press it slightly with your hands to avoid the formation of air pockets. Place the formed cake in the cold for half an hour.
Chocolate roll with cookies
For this delicious dessert with a bright coffee and chocolate aroma you need to take:
- 300 g shortbread cookies (for example, “Baked milk”);
- 100 g corn sticks;
- 150 g butter;
- 100 g sugar;
- 80 ml heavy cream (from 33%);
- 100 g cocoa powder;
- 80 g coconut flakes;
- 30 ml liqueur with coffee-creamy flavor (for example, Baileys or Sheridan`s).
Cooking method:
- Beat the cookies into crumbs, cut the sticks or break them into small pieces. Mix these products with coconut flakes.
- In a separate container, mix cream, sugar and cocoa. Heat this mixture until all granulated sugar crystals dissolve. Then add the diced butter and liqueur and mix the mixture thoroughly.
- Pour the mixture of cookies, sticks and shavings into the resulting cream and mix. Form a roll from this mass, which must be cooled until set for about an hour before serving.
Cake with condensed milk
To prepare a delicious striped dessert from corn sticks and condensed milk you will need the following ingredients:
- 200 g corn sticks;
- 370 g boiled condensed milk;
- 50-60 g butter;
- 100 g peanuts;
- 90 g powdered sugar;
- 90 g cocoa drink "Nesquik".
Recipe step by step:
- Chop the nuts a little with a knife and fry in a dry frying pan, but do not fry. You just need to enhance their aroma.
- Cut the corn sticks into half-centimeter thick rounds and mix with melted butter, boiled condensed milk and peanuts. Press the resulting mass tightly into a tall rectangular cake pan, lined with food foil or film and greased with vegetable oil.
- Refrigerate the sweet food for two to three hours. Once set, remove from pan to a serving platter and top with stripes of Nesquik and powdered sugar. By the way, the drawing can be absolutely anything.
Cake recipe with sticks, coconut and liqueur
Creating this unusual sweet will take a little longer than working with previous recipes, but even a schoolchild can still handle it.
This version of the corn stick dish includes the following ingredients:
- 140 g corn sticks;
- 370 g boiled condensed milk;
- 155 g butter;
- 120 g coconut flakes;
- 100 g dark chocolate;
- 20 ml liqueur.
Recipe step by step:
- Use a blender to crush the puffed cornmeal sticks into fine crumbs.
- To make the cream, beat the boiled condensed milk to a creamy consistency with butter and liqueur. Place part of the cream (approximately 1/3) in a separate bowl, and mix the rest with corn stick crumbs.
- Form the resulting mass into balls no larger than a walnut. Roll each of them in coconut flakes.
- From the balls, assemble a structure similar to a slide, pressing the balls tightly against each other and generously smearing each row with the remaining cream.
- Pour melted chocolate on top of the formed cake. Before serving, the dessert should be kept in the cold for at least one to two hours.
What is more in corn sticks (benefit or harm), everyone must decide for themselves, soberly assessing the characteristics and condition of their body. But if you carefully choose this delicacy, excluding products with dangerous content, then every healthy person can sometimes treat himself to sweet corn sticks or a piece of dessert made from them.
Let's look at the interesting topic of the history of corn sticks and find out How are corn sticks made? Sweet corn sticks have been known to everyone since childhood. They were a favorite delicacy back in Soviet times. Tender, airy and crispy sticks are loved not only by children, but also by adults. This product is both tasty and incredibly healthy. Made from high-quality varieties of corn with the addition of natural products (powdered sugar and deodorized vegetable oil), corn sticks are rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and other minerals, and also contain vitamins C, E, PP and B group.
The predecessors of corn sticks were corn flakes, which were invented by the American brothers Wil and Keith Kellogg completely by accident. The reason was their own prudence, and maybe even greed. But, one way or another, in 1895 a patent was issued in the USA for the invention: “Hulled corn cereals, as well as the technology for their preparation.”
Corn sticks replaced flakes only in the post-war years of the 20th century. With the rapid development of food production technologies in the United States, extrusion has become widely used in various branches of the food industry. Extrusion is the pressing of a viscous mass of a product through special holes in order to obtain products of the required shape. In the Soviet Union, the first corn sticks were produced in 1963 at the Dnepropetrovsk Food Concentrates Plant using domestic equipment developed by Soviet designers. Since then, corn sticks have become a favorite delicacy of millions of people.
And finally how to make corn sticks, the production of corn sticks is a labor-intensive process. Corn grain must go through several stages of the technological cycle before it turns into an appetizing food. To make corn sticks, glassy, hard varieties of corn are used. The grain is cleaned of the fruit shells and germ, which impart bitterness to the product. The prepared corn is ground into grits. Then the cereal is calibrated: sifted through vibrating sieves, where particles of inappropriate size are eliminated. The corn grits obtained in this way must be absolutely pure and without any flour impurities, which will negatively affect the quality.
The finished corn grits are sent to a special bunker, where it is salted, moistened, mixed and left for some time to evenly distribute moisture. Next, the extruder comes into operation. This is a special device that works on the principle of the well-known meat grinder. It has the shape of a cylinder, inside which a screw rotates at a certain speed. Heating elements are located in the inlet part of the extruder, and the outlet part is equipped with a matrix with holes of a certain diameter.
The prepared corn cereal mass is fed into an extruder, which is heated to a predetermined temperature. Using a screw mechanism, it moves towards the matrix. Under the influence of heating elements, the temperature of the corn mass increases. Liquid begins to evaporate from it and the pressure in the extruder increases. Under such conditions, corn grits turn into a plastic mass.
When the mass exits the extruder through the holes of the matrix, a sharp drop in pressure occurs, the superheated steam quickly evaporates and the corn mass explosively increases in size. Special ones cut the streams of squeezed-out corn sticks into pieces of the required size. And this is almost a finished product. All that remains is to sweeten the sticks and for this they use purified vegetable oil and finely ground, sifted powdered sugar. This process is carried out in special glazing installations, where cooled corn sticks and vegetable oil are first fed, and then powdered sugar.
Only with strict adherence to the technological process will high-quality products be obtained. The slightest glitch and corn sticks You may come across hard grains, and such delicacies are unlikely to please anyone.
Sweet corn sticks are a high-calorie product. 100 grams of sticks contain approximately 300 calories. Currently, the range of corn sticks is very large. They can be sweet, salty, cheese, bacon, and even lard flavored. Shelf life of sweets corn sticks without additives is quite large. But the shelf life of sticks with all kinds of flavorings must be controlled according to the sell-by date indicated on the label.
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Many people clearly associate certain sweets with childhood. This includes ice cream, cotton candy, lemonade and, of course, corn sticks. How this airy delicacy is made at the factory and whether it is possible to make sticks at home, you will find out in this article.
What are corn sticks made from?
Raw materials for the production of corn sticks are immediately supplied to the plant in large quantities. Literally tons of it are delivered to the enterprise. The raw materials are corn grits, which is made from durum corn, powdered sugar, salt and refined deodorized vegetable oil. These are all the ingredients required to make corn sticks, familiar to everyone since childhood.
The composition of salted or other flavored sticks is similar, but instead of powdered sugar, simply salt or an appropriate flavoring such as bacon, cheese, etc. are added.
Equipment for making corn sticks
The production line for the production of corn sticks includes several types of equipment: a mixer for preparing cereals, a mill for producing powdered sugar, an extruder, a coating complex, a powdered sugar dispenser and a device that packages corn sticks. How products are made at the factory and at home and in what volume depends on the power of the extruder. By the way, the same equipment is used in the production of other breakfast cereals.
The device for making sticks comes in low, medium and high power. It is suitable for small, medium businesses and large factories respectively. In the first case, the productivity will be 30 kg of products per hour, in the second - 100 kg per hour, in the third - 250 kg per hour.
Corn sticks: how they are made at the factory
Thus, production capacity and equipment costs depend on the size of the enterprise. How are corn sticks made at the factory?
The entire technological process takes no more than 10 minutes. During an 8-hour production shift, about three tons of sweet treats are produced. The production process itself consists of several stages:
- First, corn grits are fed to an extruder, the temperature inside of which ranges from 40 to 150 degrees.
- Under the influence of high temperature and pressure, the raw material acquires the consistency of dough.
- The plastic mass falls onto a special matrix with holes, when passing through which the dough sharply increases in size, as if exploding and acquiring the structure of a corn stick. This happens due to a sharp change in pressure. The shape and size of the holes on the matrix determine what the corn sticks will be: round, square, star-shaped, etc.
The sticks that come out of the extruder remain too wet, so they do not have their own taste and do not yet crunch on the teeth. To do this, they need to be glazed and dried in a special drum.
How to make corn sticks with flavoring additives
At the next stage, after the products leave the extruder, they are dried in a special drum. Next, the sticks enter the coating complex - this is a device that resembles a long drum, with the help of which powdered flavoring additives are applied to the products. At the same time, vegetable oil is supplied through the sprayer. It is heated inside the drum and sprayed evenly in a small amount onto the corn sticks. How are they glazed? Read on.
After the sticks are saturated with oil, they go into the next compartment of the drum. Here they are sprinkled with powdered sugar on all sides. When it comes into contact with warm vegetable oil, it melts, forming a sweet glaze on top of the product. At the next stage, ready-made sticks come out of the drum. Then they are packaged by special equipment in automatic mode. Finished sticks are packaged and sent to the warehouse, and then directly to the wholesale buyer.
How to make corn sticks at home
You won’t be able to make corn sticks at home without special equipment. Products acquire an air structure only when passing through an extruder, which provides the necessary sharp pressure drop. Neither a traditional screw meat grinder, nor, especially, a pastry bag can replace professional equipment in this case.
How to make corn sticks at home? Very quickly if equipment and raw materials are available. First of all, for this you will need a special apparatus for making corn sticks UKP-M. The productivity of the device is 15 kg of products per hour.
To prepare the sticks, corn grits are first poured into a special funnel on the body, passed through a humidification system and subjected to thermoplastic processing. The entire process occurs almost instantly in a continuous mode. Then the mass is pressed at a certain speed through a special matrix with cutting, which gives the required shape to the finished product. The simplest corn sticks are ready! Now they need to be coated with glaze or sprinkled with powdered sugar, and they can be served.
In addition to corn sticks, the UKP-M device is used for the production of products from wheat, pearl barley, rice in the shape of stars, tubes, etc.
Corn sticks are familiar to people of all ages. Everyone, without exception, knows the amazing taste of this crispy treat. It can confidently be put on a par with such delicacies as ice cream or “cock lollipops”.
A package of puffed food can be given to children at school, taken with you to work, on a picnic or on a trip, because it is relatively inexpensive and perfectly satisfies hunger. This is a very healthy product, but do not forget that it is also very high in calories, so you should not abuse your favorite food.
Many people are interested in how to cook corn sticks at home, and whether it is even possible to do it yourself. The technological process for making this popular dish is quite complex, so it is almost impossible to prepare it at home. Only special equipment that cannot be found in a regular kitchen can help with this. But there is another recipe for corn sticks that can be used to make this dish similar to the real thing. Let's look at two cooking options step by step and with photos.
We make corn sticks using specialized equipment
You will need equipment such as a household kitchen extruder and a screw conditioner. During cooking, humidity and temperature indicators should be observed, as well as the necessary atmospheric conditions should be created. Only then will you get the right and high-quality product. Using a special device - UKP-M, which costs about 2000 rubles, you can also quickly prepare your favorite dessert.
The preparation scheme is as follows (amount of ingredients “by eye”):
- Grind the corn grits in a coffee grinder to even grains. Their size directly affects the foaming of the mass from which the delicacy is formed. Poor grinding will lead to lumps and burning;
- Place the ground grains into the auger conditioner. There it needs to be mixed with warm, salted water for about four minutes;
- Set the speed to constant and wait 3 hours for the mixture to mix until completely broken up. In this case, the humidity percentage in the device must be constantly maintained at 25%;
- The moistened prepared cereal must be placed in an extrusion apparatus, where it undergoes a heating process of up to 200 degrees and foams, acquiring a plastic, homogeneous structure;
- Next, the device uses pressure to push the mass into a special drying chamber, evenly cutting the “dough” with a mechanical knife at regular intervals. In this chamber, corn blanks are dried until their moisture content decreases to 5%. This makes them crispy. And it is at this stage that the workpieces acquire their usual airy appearance and porous shape;
- The final stage is glazing. Here, the workpieces are first coated with filtered vegetable oil by spraying it onto the surface of the resulting products. After this, they are placed in a mixing drum along with the ground ingredients for glazing (powdered sugar, crushed salt, chocolate chips or various seasonings);
- With this our delicacy is ready. It will be as tasty as the product produced in the factory.
Simplified version of corn sticks
There is another way to make homemade corn sticks. It is much simpler and faster than the previous one. Finished products will differ significantly from store-bought ones, but will also delight you with their taste.
You will need:
- 2 eggs;
- Butter – 50 g;
- Corn flour – 100 g;
- Milk – 70 ml.
Step-by-step cooking instructions:
- Stir the butter and milk in a saucepan, place on low heat and bring to a boil, then slowly add the corn flour and stir continuously to avoid the appearance of lumps. Bring the mass until smooth;
- Remove the resulting mixture from the heat and cool, then add the eggs and beat all the ingredients thoroughly;
- We put the mixture into a cooking bag, then squeeze small finger-thick strips out of it onto a baking sheet;
- We bake the preparations in a well-heated oven;
- If desired, sprinkle the top of the finished dish with powdered sugar and place it on a plate.
Raffaello made from corn sticks
Your favorite delicacy can be consumed separately or included in many dishes. Therefore, finally - a simple sweet dessert made from corn sticks.
You will need:
- A jar of condensed milk;
- Corn “sticks” – 150 g;
- Coconut flakes - to taste;
- Nuts (any) – 100 g.
Cooking step by step:
- Grind the corn sticks in a blender or pass through a meat grinder to obtain “flour”;
- Place condensed milk in it and stir thoroughly until smooth;
- Form small balls from the “dough”, place a nut on them and press them in, then roll the pieces again, giving them a round shape. Instead of nuts, you can use dried apricots or prunes;
- Pour coconut flakes into a deep bowl and roll each ball evenly in it, then place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. After this, the delicacy is ready to serve.
Video: How to make corn sticks at home
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