Parboiled/Steamed Rice Innovation

Parboiling is a hydrothermal treatment of paddy. Parboiled rice is "par"-tially "boiled" (i.e. partially cooked rice). In other words parboiling means precooking of rice within the husk. Paddy is first hydrated, then heated to cook the rice and finally dried.

Marketable rice is generally in form of white rice but this type of rice is less nutritious than the parboiled rice. The layers in the rice kernel contain majority of the nutrients that are removed during polishing of white rice. Many of the nutrients needed for digestion of white rice are removed during the milling process. Vitamins like vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, and several other nutrients namely potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc and copper are lost during the processing (milling/polishing). There is generally little change in quantities of amino acids. White rice is fortified with minerals and vitamins in form of powder which are washed out during cleaning with water before cooking.

Parboiled rice is steamed before removal of husk. When cooked, the grains are more nutritious, firmer, and less clingy than white rice grains. Parboiled rice is produced by a process of soaking, pressure steaming and drying prior to milling. This modifies the starch and permits the retention of much of the natural vitamins and minerals in kernels. The rice is usually slightly yellowish, although the color changes after cooking. Sufficient quantities of vitamins (B’s) are absorbed into the kernel to prevent beriberi, a deficiency disease caused by a lack of thiamin.

Steamed Rice Generally, newly harvested fresh rice cooks to pasty mass, whereas when the process of ageing progress, the stickiness reduces and the cooking quality improves. The process of accelerated ageing in freshly harvested paddy is called curing / Steamed rice. Paddy is steamed for 20 min at atmospheric pressure. The paddy then dehusked to obtain brown rice and then polished to white rice.. Steaming at 15-16% of moisture content increase elongation, width expansion, water uptake, cooking time and decreased solids loss. The hardness, cohesiveness and springiness of cooked rice increased whereas its adhesiveness decreased. Accelerated aged rice can be prepared by this short-time process to yield rice that has better and more desirable cooking properties.