Physicochemical, cooking and textural properties of milled rice from different Indian rice cultivars

Milled rices from 23 varieties were evaluated for physicochemical, cooking and textural properties. The relationship between different properties was determined using Pearson correlation. Thousand kernel weight, bulk density, length-breadth (L/B) ratio, and amylose content varied between 13.3-19.9 g, 0.77-0.88 g/ml, 2.62-4.55 and 2.3-15.4%, respectively among the various cultivars. Minimum cooking time, water uptake ratio, gruel solid loss, and elongation ratio varied between 13.3-24.0 min, 2.37-4.45, 1.88-8.53% and 1.29-1.74, respectively. Textural properties, such as maximum force, cohesiveness, packability, hardness and chewiness, determined using an Instron Universal Testing Machine varied between 57-266 N, 40-220 N, 10.0-27.0 mm, 20-91 N/mm, and 1505-6969 N min, respectively. Cooking time showed a negative correlation with amylose content (r = -0.70, p < 0.01) and a positive correlation with bulk density of milled rice (r = 0.333, p less than or equal to 0.05). Gruel solid loss showed a significant positive correlation with the amylose content (r = 0.880, p less than or equal to 0.01) and was negatively correlated with cooking time (r = -0.708, p less than or equal to 0.01). The rice cultivars with higher cooking time showed lower gruel solid loss and vice versa. All textural parameters showed a significant correlation with each other and had a positive correlation with amylose and negative correlation with cooking time. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.