Abstract
“Instant rice, also known as minute rice, is rice that has been precooked and dehydrated so that it cooks more rapidly” (within 10 min). The process of producing instant rice involves cooking of rice, freezing, freeze drying to required moisture content and storage in polyethylene pouches. Rice was cooked in three different, rice to water ratios (1: 2, 1: 3, and 1: 4). The cooked rice were used to prepare two types of instant rice varieties (tomato rice and lemon rice). Proximate composition analysis, moisture content, density, rehydration ratio, swelling capacity, moisture sorption, free fatty acid content, X-Ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy analysis were performed. The final product was also subjected to sensory analysis. The densities of lemon rice and tomato rice were found to be 0.236 g/cm3 and 0.244 g/cm3, respectively. The swelling capacities of lemon rice and tomato rice were found to be 0.0254 ml/seed and 0.0263 ml/seed, respectively. The rehydration process was standardized to be 1: 2.25 rice to water ratio for 3min. The instant rice samples showed the presence of V-type pattern revealing the formation of amylase-lipid complexes in X-Ray Diffraction.
Keywords: Instant rice, freeze drying, properties, rehydration, quality analysis.
Graphical Abstract
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