| Abstract: | A study of eight commercial parboiled samples derived from two varieties of rice produced by four different processes has shown that depending on the parboiling process, the starch component itself can be present as native and/or retrograded starch in addition to the amylose-lipid complex. Further, it was demonstrated that the polymorphic states of starch can influence the texture and behaviour of cooked rice. The parboiled rice samples which had all three states of starch (i.e. ungelatinized and recrystallized amylopectin plus the amylose-lipid complex) possessed the hardest eating property but the lowest solubility. A negative linear relationship was demonstrated between the hardness and the solubility of cooked, parboiled rice. Overall, the observations suggest the existence of different forms of starch in parboiled rice which vary with the different parboiling protocols. The conditions governing their formation need to be established before investigating the specific functionality of individual forms within the rice. This study further confirmed that retrograded starch (amylopectin) in parboiled rice did not exhibit a B-tye X-ray pattern but mixed A+V patterns. |
