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Contribution for physical characterization of aromatic rice

Abstract

Rice is consumed mainly as whole grain, and quali- ty considerations are much more important than for any other food crop. Rice grain quality preference varies from country to country and among regions. Nowadays, aromatic rice varieties are playing a vital role in global rice trading, and also in Portugal. The economic value of rice depends on its cooking and processing quality, such us water uptake ratio, cooking time and texture properties. Three types of aromatic rice were collected and ana- lyzed for biometry characteristics, cooking time, wa- ter absorption, and texture properties. The rice grains were collected from the Portuguese trade market. Biometric characteristics of all rice grains were eval- uated by S21 (LKL) and C-300 (Kett) colorimeter. The rice flour gels texture was performed by a TPA (texture profile analysis), giving information about adhesive- ness, chewiness, gumminess, hardness, resilience and cohesiveness. The extrusion force was also determined according to ISO 11747:2012. Rice samples are commercially classified as long grains B type, because they presented a length higher than 6 mm and the ratio length/ width higher than 3. The samples presented a high degree of whiteness, with a strictly relationship between the total and vitrea white- ness (r 2 = 0.95). The cooking time varied from 12 to 17 minutes and these properties was strongly related with water uptake (from 155.7 - 209.1 g). Generally, aromat- ic rice cultivars presented different textural properties. Aromatic rice samples are different for hardness, adhe- siveness, gumminess, resilience, and extrusion force. From the results obtained it was concluded that the studied aromatic rice cultivars presented different physical properties, mainly the cooking time, water uptake and texture. These differences could be a com- mercial advantage considering the consumer point of view, because the enterprise could provide specif- ic aromatic rice in order to attend different consumer targets

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