Avaliação do efeito do tratamento térmico por imersão em grãos de arroz com fissuras

Abstract

Rice is one of most cultivated food in the world and the main food for more than half population in the world. Rice production includes several processing steps and all of them affect in the final rice quality. Rice, different from other grains, has its consumption prioritized as whole grain. Some quality defects can affect in that characteristic, and the kernel could be broken by the end of processing. Fissures in rice is a significant defect, it isn't the only defect found in the kernel, but it is one of the most concerning defects. Fissures in the rice makes the kernel susceptible to break during the milling process, which decreases the whole grains yield and decreases the producers profit. Taking this into consideration, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of soaking conditions in fissured rice kernels. A longgrain rice cultivars, Wells, from 2013 crop year and harvested in Stuttgart, Arkansas was used for the experiment. The methodology applied was: Fissured Rough rice kernels were selected; The selected grains were soaked in water bath and the temperatures and duration were 65, 70,75 e 80°C for 1, 2 and 3 hours. The grains were dried in EMC chamber and then analyzed in the X-ray machine in order to check the effect of soaking in fissured rice kernels. A breaking force test was done in the fissured kernels using a texture analyzer before and after soaking process. The results obtained was 68% of kernels were healed in soaking conditions at 75°C per 3 hours, and the kernels breaking force significantly increased. The soaking treatment showed a positive effect in fissured rice kernels due to the improvement in fissures defect and also due to the improvement in the breaking force after soaking treatment.