GB766822A - Improvements in or relating to quick-cooking rice - Google Patents

Abstract

In preparing quick-cooking rice, dehulled rice is treated with water and heated to bring its moisture content progressively to between 60 and 75 per cent by weight, the amount of water being limited to that which the rice can absorb at the temperature of treatment. The treatment may comprise passing the rice through a series of water sprays of progressively increasing temperature until it attains a temperature of about 100 DEG C. The rice should, preferably, acquire a moisture content of about 30 per cent before gelatinization temperature (about 65 DEG C.) is passed. The rice may be sprayed with water at room temperature, then with hot water and/or steam to bring its temperature to about 100 DEG C. and then with hot or cold water to bring its moisture content to between 60 and 75 per cent. Before being sprayed with hot water and/or steam, the rice may be steeped in or sprayed with hot water at a temperature between 60 and 100 DEG C. to remove fatty material. Initially, the rice may be flash-steamed and then subjected to flash treatment with a fat-dissolving solvent, e.g. hexane or pentane. The moistened and gelatinized rice may be compressed mechanically, e.g. between rollers or rigid surfaces. It may be frozen and/or dried to a moisture content between 10 and 14 per cent. Quick-cooking rice having a specific gravity of 0,48 may be produced from rice having a specific gravity of 0,85.