By Joe W. Hickenbottom, Contributing Editor
Malt was discovered centuries ago when someone noticed that barley germinates after becoming wet. Further discoveries followed when the germinated barley, called “malt," was liquefied. The resulting activated enzymes were found to help modify the gluten of ground wheat, which led to making early forms of bread. This liquid was the original malt extract.
As maltsters made refinements to the malt-production process over the centuries--often by trial and error--many variations of malt were developed for specific applications in the brewing and food industries. Some of these processes are still in use today.
Processing steps
Food malts made from barley are produced by first steeping the barley in water to allow the grain to germinate, which activates the natural enzymes in barley (mainly alpha and beta amylases). The sprouts from the germination are then discarded, and the activated grain is carefully dried to maintain the enzyme activity. At this point, groundwater is added to allow hydrolysis of the starch, and the liquid phase is drawn off, filtered and evaporated to the desired solids level. This results in basic malt extract. Malt variations are produced by deactivating the enzymes of the diastatic malt with heat to produce nondiastatic malt. Some of the basic types are formed by heating the malt to different color levels, allowing it to be used in dark products. Drying it, on the other hand, creates powders that are ideal for dry applications. By co-extracting the barley with other cereal adjuncts, it can be used in most of the same products as the extracts.
Brewers further process the activated grain by grinding, adding water to produce a “mash," then fermenting this liquid into beer. Needless to say, this is a much abbreviated version of producing alcoholic beverages. However, interest in using liquid, nondiastatic malt extracts in non-fermented beverages seems to be increasing.
Uses and types
While the feed and brewing industries use most of the barley crop, food-industry usage in breakfast cereals, dark breads, hard rolls, bagels, crackers, pretzels, hamburger buns and artisan breads consumes the balance of the barley crop yield--along with seed requirements. Some other uses of food malts include mixes, tablets, imitation coffee and cocoa, pet foods, pizza, ice creams, yogurts, confections, soymilk, vinegar, granola, nutritional bars, and puddings. Malts are added in these various applications for their flavor, color, sweetness and fermentable carbohydrates, as well as their enzymatic and humectant properties. Liquid- or dry-malt extracts are used to mask unpleasant-tasting medicinal flavors and, at the same time, contribute all the digestible components of barley in soluble form, including protein, B vitamins, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin and minerals. One of the largest use areas for food malts is fermented bakery foods, which benefit from malt’s sweetness, mineral salts, soluble proteins, dough-conditioning enzymes, flavor, color and nutritive content. Food malts promote vigorous yeast activity, accelerate dough conditioning, and add flavor and aroma to finished products.
