ARS | Publication request: STRUCTURE AND TEXTURE RELATIONSHIPS IN COOKED RICE

Submitted to: United States-Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: August 10, 2005
Publication Date: October 1, 2005
Citation: Ogawa, Y., Wood, D.F., Orts, W.J., Glenn, G.M. 2005. Structure and texture relationships in cooked rice. Proceedings of the United States-Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources, Food and Agriculture Panel, 34th Annual Meeting, volume 34, pp 40-43.

Technical Abstract: Texture plays a role in cooked rice quality and the structure of cooked rice grain determines the texture. The relationship of texture and structure may be explored by corrlelating compression measurements to observation of the compressed material. Compression ratios of 20 to 70% were measured against resistance force using a texture analyzer. The structure of cooked rice grains at various compression ratios were compared by microscopy. The outside of an uncompressed, intact, cooked rice grain is swollen and distorted while the interior has multiple voids. Voids have large central cavities connected to fine cracks which extend to the periphery. Voids increase in size up to the 40% compression ratio and then decrease upon further compression. Compression versus resistance was linear up to 40% and then became non-linear, increasing more as the compression ratio increased. Cell shapes became increasingly more rounded as compression increased with little affect on cell wall integrity. The degree to which kernel structure changed during the compression tests and the linear and then non-linear behavior of resistance versus compression, shows that voids and cell walls affect texture.