On Food and Cooking

spices, enriched with vegetable oil,
toasted and mixed with nuts and/or dried
fruit.
Oven-puffed rice and corn are made by
cooking rice grains or corn grits with
water and flavorings, partly drying and
lightly rolling them, then toasting in an
oven that may reach 650ºF/340ºC, when
the remaining moisture evaporates
quickly enough to expand the grain
structure.
Puffed rice and wheat are made from
whole grains, which are wetted and
enclosed in a pressure-cooker “gun” at a
temperature of 500–800ºF/260– 430ºC.
The steam pressure reaches 14
atmospheres, and is suddenly released,
expelling the grains. As the steam within
the grains expands from the pressure
drop, it expands the grain structure,
which then sets as it cools down into a
light, porous mass.