QUALITY EVALUATION OF QUICK COOKING BASMATI RICE

Abstract

Basmati rice is valued for its flavour and long, bold grains. Traditionally this rice var. requires a special cooking method including pre-soaking, boiling in an optimum amount of water and spreading for cooling. Until recently, the technology to develop quick cooking rice (QCR) has only been available for nonscented rice; however, this has recently been extended to include basmati rice. In this study, effects of processing (cooking and drying) on cooking quality of basmati QCR were tested by descriptive sensory analysis and GC analysis of head-space volatiles to investigate release of basmati flavour during rehydration. Data indicated that some loss of basmati flavour and whiteness occurred during processing, while some breakage of dehydrated rice grains occurred due to handling. Extension of rehydration time from 6 to 8 min caused no substantial improvement; cooking for 6 min resulted in high stickiness and starchy texture, indicating that a 6 min rehydration time was sufficient. It is concluded that the QCR process may be confidently applied to aromatic and non-aromatic rice var. but with some sacrifice of sensory quality.