Functional properties as affected by laboratory-scale parboiling of rough rice and brown rice

Rough rice (RR) is the conventional feedstock for parboiling. The use of brown rice (BR) instead of RR is gaining interest because it results in shorter processing time and lower energy requirement. This study compared the functional properties of milled parboiled rice under different parboiling conditions from RR and BR. Presoaked RR and BR from cultivars Bolivar, Cheniere, Dixiebelle, and Wells were parboiled under mild (20 min, 100 degrees C, 0 kPa) and severe (20 min, 120 degrees C, 98 kPa) laboratory-scale conditions. Head rice yield improved on the RR and BR samples subjected to severe parboiling and was comparable to that of a commercially parboiled sample. Mild parboiling of BR resulted in lower head rice yields. Parboiling generally resulted in decreased head rice whiteness, decreased apparent amylose, increased total lipid, and sparingly changed protein content. Under the same parboiling conditions, the extent of starch gelatinization was higher for BR compared to RR as manifested by some distinct differences in pasting and thermal properties. The cooking characteristics (water uptake ratio, leached materials, and volumetric expansion) and cooked rice texture (hardness and stickiness) of RR and BR subjected to severe parboiling were fairly comparable. Differences in parboiled rice functional properties due to cultivar effect were evident.