Improvement of eating quality and preservability of cooked rice obtained from aged rice grains by weak electrolyzed cathode water

With the weak electrolyzed cathode water or a kind of electrolyzed water ob tainable by electrolysis of tap water used for cooking of aged rice grains having the quality deteriorated, the effect of improving the eating quality of cooked rice was tested. Further, preservability of rice cooked with the weak electrolyzed cathode water and the mechanism of retarding retrogradat ion of cooked rice were examined. With the weak electrolyzed cathode water used for cooking of aged rice, the quality of the cooked rice immediately a fter cooking was improved, as for the texture parameters, the cooked rice w ith the weak electrolyzed cathode water was significantly lower in hardness and was significantly greater in stickiness than the cooked rice with non- electrolyzed tap water. But the preservability of cooked rice with the weak electrolyzed cathode water deteriorated, as compared with use of non-elect rolyzed tap water. Here, it was found that by adding a carbohydrate such as trehalose or a surfactant such as polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene glyceri nether monoglyceride to the soaking water, retrogradation of cooked rice wi th the weak electrolyzed cathode water could be retarded.