Parboiling of brown rice: Effect of variety and parboiling conditions

Suitability of dry-heat (roasting) parboiling process for brown [dehusked]) rice of two line and two coarse varieties was studied. While the line grai n varieties got parboiled to a mild degree, by roasting in hot sand (1:4) a t 180 degrees C to 200 degrees C far 1.75 to 2.75 min, the coarse varieties , having white-belly, could not be fully parboiled. The parboiled rice prod uced by this treatment required less time to cook than normal steam-parboil ed rice. Steaming of brown rice for 30 to 40 min under mild (0.5 kg/cm(2)) pressure after soaking for 1 h and tempering for about 5 h (room temperatur e) produced fully parboiled rice from bath fine and coarse varieties. Cooki ng properties of this mildly pressure-parboiled brown rice were very close to those exhibited by normal steam-parboiled rice.