An extruder die assembly and method for using same is disclosed that may
be adapted to a wide variety of commercial-grade extrusion devices common
in the food industry. The disclosed method comprises extruding a known
composition of a farinaceous food product through the extruder die
assembly of the present invention to produce a flavored direct-expanded
food product exhibiting enhanced flavor characteristics, but requiring no
post-extrusion drying or seasoning process. The injection section of the
extruder die assembly is used to impart flavoring additives into the
extrudate mass shortly before expansion, thereby preserving the flavoring
characteristics of the additive by minimizing the heat exposure of the
flavoring additive. The extruder die assembly may also include static
mixing elements downstream from the injection section to homogenize the
flavoring or seasoning media into the flowing mass of extrudate.