A study of eight commercial parboiled samples derived from two varieti
es of rice produced by four different processes has shown that dependi
ng on the parboiling process, the starch component itself can be prese
nt as native and/or retrograded starch in addition to the amylose-lipi
d complex. Further, it was demonstrated that the polymorphic slates of
starch can influence the texture and behaviour of cooked rice. The pa
rboiled rice samples which had all three states of starch (i.e. ungela
tinized and recrystallized amylopectin plus the amylose-lipid complex)
possessed the hardest eating property but the lowest solubility. A ne
gative linear relationship was demonstrated be tween the hardness and
the solubility of cooked, parboiled rice. Overall, the observations su
ggest the existence of different forms of starch in parboiled rice whi
ch vary with the different parboiling protocols. The conditions govern
ing their formation need to be established before investigating the sp
ecific functionality of individual forms within the rice. This study f
urther confirmed that retrograded starch (amylopectin) in parboiled ri
ce did not exhibit a B-tye X-ray pattern but mixed A+V patterns.