METHOD FOR PROVIDING A WHOLE GRAIN CEREAL BASED EXTRACT

The present invention relates to a process for preparing a whole grain cereal based extract; said process comprises the steps of: (i) providing a whole grain cereal and cereal spent grain, preferably from 50 - 90 wt. % whole grain cereal, and 10 - 50 wt. % the cereal spent grain, based on the total whole grain cereal and the cereal spent grain, (ii) subjecting the whole grain cereal to a single grinding and subsequently combining the whole grain cereal, the spent grain and water, (iii) subjecting the ground whole grain cereal, the cereal spent grain and water to an enzymatic hydrolysis of macromolecular elements in the whole grain and the cereal spent grain providing a modified whole grain cereal, (iv) inactivating the enzymes, and (v) separating a soluble fraction of the modified whole grain cereal from an insoluble fraction of the modified whole grain cereal to obtain a modified whole grain cereal extract with soluble fractions from whole gran cereal and spent grain. The invention also relates to a beverage ingredient comprising a concentrate obtained by the process.