RESEARCH NOTE THE TEXTURE OF COOKED RICE

The stickiness and consistency (an inverse estimate of tenderness) of cooked rice were measured by the sieve test and with the Haake consistometer. The values varied with the rice quality type. Stickiness was not appreciably affected by the water-to-rice ratio used during cooking, but was markedly reduced by storage especially in the cold, i.e. by starch retrogradation. Consistency was affected by both: it decreased with increasing water ratio and increased with storage. Stickiness was inversely proportional to consistency. Consistency of cooked rice varied with the force used in the consistometer test, from which it is postulated that cooked rice is a pseudoplastic system. Different rice samples should be compared only under identical rice-to-water ratio used for cooking and under identical force used for the consistency test.