WO1999013736A1 - Freeze-drying of basmati rice - Google Patents

Abstract

Authentic aromatic one minute Basmati rice has all the best cooling qualities of Basmati rice retaining maximum aroma and after reconstitution by spraying and heating for one minute in microwave oven was restored to the conditions of freshly cooked Basmati rice. It was possible to store this product at ordinary room temperatures and had greater shelf life as compared to cooked rice either stored under frozen conditions or aseptically packed cooked rice.

Description

FREEZE-DRYING OF BASMATI RICE

The invention concerns a process for drying of cooked Basmati rice to be ready for consumption after reconstitution in one minute retaining the maximum aroma and cooking qualities of Basmati rice.

Consumption of rice and that too premium Basmati rice all over the world is increasing every^¬ day, but Basmati rice cooking process being a delicate process, therefore all the consumers of Basmati rice were not expert in the process for cooking. Therefore developement of authentic aromatic one minute Basmati rice process was invented. Keeping in mind the aromatic value of Basmati rice the study of Basmati rice milling was also undertaken and it was observed that part of aroma is lost during dehusking and whitening of rice due to high temperatures in the dehusking and whitening chambers.

During the study of this new process, it was made possible to retain maximum aroma and also obtain maximum head yield rice during milling by maintaining low temperatures in the dehusking and whitening chambers.

Now the head rice thus obtained was cooked and dried to obtain authentic aromatic one minute Basmati rice by freeze drying.

The low temperature dehusking and whitening can be used for better head yields and retaining of aroma to its maximum levels making the milled rice as premium rice available at low cost and freeze dried Basmati rice needs no cooking further, has more shelf life at ordinary room temperatures and can be transported at ordinary conditions of transport. All types of rice are possible to make one minue rice with this invention.

During the milling process of Basmati rice, the paddy dehusker and rice whitening machines were connected with chilled air supply through chilled air dehumidifier maintaining low temperatures in dehusking and whitening chambers.

The milled Basmati rice thus obtained had more aroma and more head yield as compared to the normal rice milling process at ambient room temperatures.

The rice obtained after milling under controlled conditions during dehusking and whitening was cooked and dried in laboratory model freeze drier, finally packed in metallic packs under vacuum.

Effect of storage and cooking quality of freeze dried rice was studied and it was observed that freeze dried Basmati rice maintained all the cooking qualities of Basmati rice at ordinary room temperatures and remained fresh for more than a year under the packing conditions referred above.

For reconstitution purposes, part of freeze dried Basmati rice was sprayed with water just to moisten it and was kept in microwave oven for one minute. It was observed that Basmati rice reconstituted and heated in microwave has all the qualities of Basmati rice and was as good as freshly cooked Basmati rice.

Claims

1. The process for authentic aromatic one minute Basmati rice caracterised in that use of freeze drying technique for drying of cooked Basmati rice, thereby making it possible to reconstitute by just a spray of water and heating for one minute to restore to freshly cooked rice conditions.

2. In the above process, the retention of maximum aroma and obtaining of more head yield was possible by using chilled air circulation during dehusking and whitening processes in milling.