GB779576A - A method and device for cooking and drying rice - Google Patents

Abstract

779,576. Cooking rice. LEDUC, R. P. C. CARCASSONNE-. Dec. 9, 1955 [Aug. 17, 1955], No. 35378/55. Class 58. In a continuous process for cooking rice, raw rice is fed from a hopper 6 to form a layer, e.g. about 10 cm. thick, on a travelling endless belt 1 partly submerged in water 3. The rice is carried on the submerged part AB of the belt, e.g. for 10 to 15 minutes, and on the unsubmerged part BC, e.g. for 20 to 30 minutes, to allow the rice to absorb some water and excess water to drain away. The layer of soaked rice, e.g. containing 20 to 25 per cent by weight of water, is carried on the belt through a chamber 11, wherein it is cooked, e.g. for 10 to 15 minutes in live steam at atmospheric pressure, and then through a chamber 15, wherein the undisturbed layer of cooked rice is partially dried in hot air, e.g. at 90‹C. for 15 to 20 minutes. The partially dried rice, e.g. containing 18 to 20 per cent of water, passes from the belt 1 into apparatus 24, wherein the mass of rice is reduced to individual grains between teeth 27 on a rotating cylinder 26 and a flexible strap 25. The rice grains are conducted onto an endless travelling belt 29, e.g. to form a layer about 5 cm. thick, and are carried through a chamber 30, wherein they are dried in a current of hot air, e.g. at 80‹C., until they contain between 10 and 12 per cent of water. The chambers 11 and 15 may be duplicated and the steam and/or hot air may be passed upwardly or downwardly, or successively upwardly and downwardly through them. The belt 1 may be replaced by two belts, one carrying the rice through the soaking and draining stages, the other carrying the rice through the cooking and partial-drying chambers.