Effect of Curdlan and Xanthan on the Texture and Moisture Retention of Cooked Rice

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Syneresis remains the most challenging drawback of cooked rice if not consumed within a couple hours of preparation for household, restaurants and food processors. Microbial polysaccharides xanthan and curdlan were employed to assess their feasibility as a coating agent to prevent syneresis after cooking and during storage. The curdlan solution at 0.02% was found the most ideal coating agent that could be added to the broth when cooking rice with an automatic rice cooker. The ability of curdlan to form a two-dimensional sheet-like structure was desirable in helping to retain the moisture of cooked rice for up to 4 days without noticeable changes in texture and color. Xanthan and curdlan mixtures provided cooked rice additional gel-like texture, which could be desirable when chewy rice is preferred. Practical Application The ability of curdlan to reduce syneresis of cooked rice is highly applicable as a tool to prevent moisture loss of rice and subsequently extend the storage time of cooked rice. Such a tool should find applications not only for restaurants that constantly have excessive rice, but also for processed food that struggles with syneresis during processing and storage. The present research demonstrated that dilute solutions of microbial polysaccharides such as xanthan and curdlan could be used as a coating agent to improve the quality attributes (texture, color, etc.) of foods.