Physico-chemical and cooking characteristics of some rice varieties

Some physicochemical and cooking characteristics corresponding to different varieties and commercial samples of rice were analysed. Some mechanical properties determined by both, the viscoelastograf and the Instrom Universal Food Testing Machine were also analysed. Gelatinization time (Gt), gelatinization endotherm and amylose content were determined. The results showed that there was a very good correlation between gelatinization temperature and Gt, while no noticeable correlation among others phsycochemical characteristics was observed. Regarding the mechanical properties, both methods permited to show significant differences among most of the samples. However, when the samples order obtained with hardness (Instrom) values was compared with that corresponding to firmness (Viscoelastograf) values, some discrepancies were observed. This could be attributable to the number of grains and the cooking time used in each method. There was good linear correlation between hardness and amylose content. On the contrary, none of the viscoelastograf parameters are correlated well with amylose. An interesting point was that the slope of the regression line obtained between firmness and cooking time could be utilised as a measure of cooking resistance of each sample and was related to the rate of water absorption.