ARS | Publication request: Effect of flour-blasting of brown rice on reduction of cooking time and resulting texture

Submitted to: Cereal Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: May 5, 2010
Publication Date: January 5, 2011
Citation: Guraya, H.S., Champagne, E.T. 2011. Effect of flour-blasting of brown rice on reduction of cooking time and resulting texture. Cereal Chemistry. 88(1):51-55.

Interpretive Summary: Consumption of brown rice is extremely valuable to health. The problem is that brown rice takes a long time to cook (40-45 min.), due to the slow rate of hydration. This long cooking time produces a sticky soft texture on the surface, unlike white rice. Consequently, the consumption of brown rice has been significantly limited in the United States. A novel process for increasing the rate of hydration of food crop seeds without loss of the nutritious and beneficial portions of the seeds has been discovered. In this process, rice is bombarded with rice flour sufficient to create microperforations in the water resistant outer coat of the seed. These microperforations in the treated rice significantly increase the rate of hydration, and hence, decrease cooking time to about 15 min. A patent has been filed and the technology has been licensed to several U.S. companies.

Technical Abstract: Long grain non-parboiled, long grain parboiled, and American basmati-type brown rice were bombarded with parboiled rice flour sufficient to create microperforations in the water-resistant outer coat of the seed. These microperforations in the treated rice significantly increased the rate of hydration. Air pressure was kept at a constant 413 KPa, and the average particle size of the flour was 124 µm, which was optimum to produce the microperforations without removal of bran. The optimum blasting time varied with the type of rice and ranged from 40 to 60 s. The hardness of the fully cooked flour-blasted rice was the same at half the cooking time of the untreated brown rice, but the percent of water absorption of the flour-blasted brown rice was lower, since it required less time to cook. This produced fluffier, firmer, and non-sticky cooked flour-blasted brown rice, as compared to freshly cooked control brown rice.