Neuro‐fuzzy interface and mathematical modeling of rehydration kinetics and dynamic vapor sorption behavior of novel no‐cooking rice

Abstract

A novel no-cooking rice was developed from a low-amylose paddy using instant controlled pressure drop (ICPD) assisted novel parboiling method with an improvisation of the traditional method of production of the no-cooking rice named as “komal chawal.” Autoclaving and ICPD treatments were employed for the preparation of no-cooking rice. Autoclaving involved the treatment of rice at 1 atm(g) pressure for the preparation of pressure-parboiled rice, while ICPD treatment with instant decompression was carried out within an experimental setup at treatment pressures (TP) of .2–.4 MPa(g) to produce ICPD treated rice. The step of soaking was omitted for the samples parboiled by the ICPD treatment. Effects of ICPD treatment pressure were assessed for obtaining better milling yield, color, texture, microstructure, and other properties. Paddy treated at .4 MPa(g) with instant decompression yielded the best quality rice in terms of those quality parameters. The rehydration behavior of the optimized rice samples was analyzed by applying the neuro-fuzzy interface and mathematical modeling. In addition, dynamic vapor sorption-based isotherm kinetics was investigated using the enthalpy–entropy compensation theory, demonstrating adequate sigmoid isotherm behavior of the rice. Practical Applications Application of instant control pressure drop (ICPD) has shown improvement in the rehydration properties of komal chawal with an increased head rice yield as compared to similar product produced by conventional parboiling. When freshly harvested low amylose paddy with relatively high moisture are used, the ICPD treatment permitted komal chawal production without the initial paddy soaking step, which is otherwise essential in a conventional parboiling process of komal chawal production. Hence, ICPD treatment as a novel technological intervention has the potential to shorten the komal chawal production process, and yield products with better rehydration and better chances of acceptance in market.