The effect of hydroxypropyl starch on the improvement of mechanical and cooking properties of rice noodles

The convenient preparation of rice noodles with excellent mechanical and cooking properties remains a challenge for the food industry. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different hydroxypropyl starch additions on the quality, performance, and structural characteristics of rice flours and noodles by mechanical property testing, cooking characteristic analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR), and other methods. SEM evaluation revealed that the addition of hydroxypropyl starch created rice noodles with a denser network structure. XRD analysis indicated a decrease in the noodle crystallinity from 11.37 % (control noodles) to 3.94 % (noodles containing 10 % hydroxypropyl starch). LF-NMR characterization confirmed an enhanced water-holding capacity of noodles containing hydroxypropyl starch. The noodle tensile strain increased from 54.97 ± 0.45 % in control noodles to 100.63 ± 1.58 % in noodles containing 3 % hydroxypropyl starch. The cooking loss of dried noodles decreased from 8.30 ± 0.57 % (control noodles) to 5.67 ± 0.16 % (noodles containing 3 % hydroxypropyl starch), and the broken rates were reduced from 77.50 ± 1.54 % of the control noodles to 12.50 ± 1.54 % of the noodles containing 3 % hydroxypropyl starch. The addition of 3 % hydroxypropyl starch can improve the quality of rice noodles and promote the development of the rice industry.