This invention relates to an improved process for the production of quick cooking rice. The dehydrated cooked rice prepared by the process of the invention can be packed suitably and preserved. The rice can be rehydrated when required by adding a measured quantity of boiling water and simmering for 4-5 minutes.
With the ever increasing awareness of new types high quality processed foods, demand for convenience products based on Rice is also on the increase. Versatility of rice and its products, fitting into every cuisine, is substantiated by the fact that varied ethnic groups use rice as their base food ingredient. However, long cooking time required by Rice, has been a limiting factor in the regular use of rice as an ingredient in a number of convenience food products. As consumers demand lesser preparation times coupled with high nutrition and good taste, the use of quick cooking rice as an ingredient in convenience foods is being resorted to. With fast changing trends in life styles, characterized by dual income families and higher standards of living, consumers' demand products that save time in preparation, yet are delicious and cost effective.
Rice is consumed only after it is totally cooked. Ordinary milled rice takes 20 - 25 min. to cook in water to a reach an acceptable state. Various rice varieties yield cooked rice of varying textural characteristics. Variations in recipes have significant effect on the texture, flavor and acceptability of the cooked rice.
Practically all quick cooking rice processes emphasize the pre-treatment of rice. Among the various quick cooking rice processes and combinations of steps that have been reported in the literature, only a few products have been produced and marketed in the United States in significant volume. It is believed that only very few process for producing dry quick cooking rice are actively being used to manufacture and market fairly large volume of generally acceptable convenience rice products for house hold and institutional consumptions. However, the quality of quick cooking rice developed over the past couple of years has varied considerably. The main disadvantage is that the cooked rice grains tend to crumble and do not taste like conventionally cooked rice.
Good quality quick cooking rice should have the ability be ready for consumption within a short time, say 5 minutes and the cooking method at the consumer end should be simple. After cooking, the product should have similar the characteristics of conventionally cooked rice in terms of its flavor, taste and texture. Although, there are a few brands of quick cooking rice, which fulfill most of these characteristics, they are suitable for selected varieties of rice grown in certain countries and hence manufactured and marketed

in these countries. Difference in moisture levels, pretreatment, drying conditions and other variables can produce various types of quick cooking rice. These range from partially cooked rice requiring 10-15 minutes of cooking or a good quality table rice requiring 5 minutes of preparation time in boiling water. The brands available abroad are aimed at western consumers or for Japanese market.
Consumers in the West prefer long grains, light, fluffy or slightly dry individual kernels of rice, with cooked flavor, having essentially no gritty or hard uncooked centers. Japanese prefer short grains, which is pasty. But, Indian preference is for medium grains with light, fluffy, individual kernels of rice with cooked flavor and without hard core. Such quick cooking rice is not available even abroad. Also, some of these rice varieties are designed to meet the taste of Americans or Japanese and most of them contain seasoning mix.
This invention relates to an improved process for the production of quick cooking rice. The dehydrated cooked rice prepared by the process of the invention can be packed suitably and preserved. The rice can be rehydrated when required by adding a measured quantity of boiling water and simmering for 4- 5 minutes.
Cooking rice typically involves allowing the rice to absorb water and heat. For example, rice may be cooked by placing the rice in boiling water for a period of time. Alternatively, rice may become cooked by steaming. Parboiled rice will typically absorb from 65 to 75 % weight water during cooking. Water is taken up on cooking linearly with time. Hence reducing cooking time reduces water uptake. Low water uptake leaves the rice tasting soft on the outside and firm, chalky and uncooked on the inside (water uptake is the weight increase from dry rice after cooking in excess water for a given time). Water absorption is defined as the weight of cooked rice yields from 100 g of dry rice after a given time.
Cooked rice typically has different mechanical properties compared to the original rice. The extent of cooking necessary for acceptable mouth feel and taste varies from region to region. In the United States, for example, a softer rice product is often found desirable, whereas Europeans typically desire a harder or firmer rice.
Raw white rice is not parboiled, but is milled from brown rice in the dry raw state. It generally cooks faster than parboiled rice. The resultant cooked rice, however, is extremely starchy tasting. It is believed that water and heat enters the individual starch granules within

the rice kernels and causes them to swell and burst releasing free molecular starch. This yields a very starchy, pasty feel in the mouth.
Parboiling is the typical method employed for reducing the starchiness of cooked rice. Parboiled rice is usually defined as rice which has been steeped, heat treated and dried. During the heat treatment step of parboiling, the starch in the endosperm of the rice is substantially gelatinized. The parboiling process and the resulting gelatinization of the starch have several beneficial effects. Parboiling allows the nutrients from the bran layer to migrate to the internal portions of the rice before removal resulting in a rice product having enhanced nutritional values. Moreover, parboiled rice is preferred over white (raw/milled) rice by many consumers for its texture, appearance, flavor, aroma and recipe tolerance.
Conventional parboiling processes generally include the steps of: (1) soaking rough (or paddy) rice in 50-70°C water for 2-4 hours to yield a rough rice having a 30-35 weight percent water content; (2) draining he free water from the soaked rice; (3) applying steam heat under pressure for 8 to 20 minutes to effect gelatinization; and (4) drying the steamed rice with hot air to reduce its water content to about 12-14 % water. The dried, parboiled rough rice is then ready for shelling (to remove the hull) and milling to remove the bran. Although parboiling provides a rice product having these improved characteristics, the resultant parboiled rice is rendered longer cooking than milled white rice. Most parboiled rice requires cooking of at least 20 minutes to prepare the parboiled rice to the desired edibility. It appears that the heat treatment involved in the parboiling processing reduces the product rehydrability, which renders it harder and thus longer to cook. Another drawback of conventional rice parboiling processes vis-a-vis white rice milling is that they result in stronger bonding of the bran layer to the rice kernel, with the result that more time and energy must be used in the milling step to remove the bran from the surface of the kernel subsequent to the parboiling. Accordingly, although parboiled rice shows a great degree of improvement in its freedom from starchiness as well as other advantageous properties, these advantages are partly offset to a degree by the increased cooking time required to fully re hydrate the dry parboiled rice to achieve a cooked product.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a rice product (milled, parboiled or unpolished (brown)) having reduced cooking times. Accordingly, it would be desirable to produce a quick cooking rice having a natural appearance and flavor and a smooth surface texture without substantially altering the size and/or shape of the individual rice kernels and a method of making the same that does not significantly increase the cost and/or complexity in the manufacturing of fast cooked rice within 5 minutes of rehydration for raw milled rice within 15-18 minutes for parboiled and 18-20 minutes for unpolished rice.

Reference may be made to an Indian patent IN183687 by LIN YAH HWA E; JACOPS LUC dated 2000-03-18 titled "A method of preparing quick-cooking rice" wherein the details of quick cooking rice process is reported. This patent is also published as WO9749300 (A1), EP0923313 (A1), EP0923313 (A4), EP0923313 (B1), AU717393 (B2), EP1304042, US6416802. The invention provides a process for the preparation of quick cooking rice having a natural appearance and smooth mouth feel. The rice is produced by mechanically manipulating wet rice at a moisture content of from more than 17 % to 32 % by weight, preferably by wet milling the rice to remove the bran, followed by drying. The wet milling results in a product with quick cooking properties, superior cook yield and eating properties. The mechanically manipulated wet rice can also be instantized after the wet flexing step to produce an instant rice. It has been reported that, this process can be used to produce a quick cooking rice that gives an acceptable texture after boiling in water at about 100°C for only 10-12 minutes or less, e.g., 6-10 minutes, more preferably 5-8 minutes.
The drawback of the above process is that, during wet milling, the percentage of brokens increases also, this is more specific to parboiled rice. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to an Indian patent IN183076 by srinivasa Rao, P.N., Subbarao, V.N, S.Z., AIL, Ashwathnarayana, K.N, Swamy, Y.M.I., Ramesh, A., Ramesh, M.N., Unnikrishnan, K.R titled "A process for the production of quick cooking rice" dated 1999-09-04 wherein the details of quick cooking rice process is reported. The invention reports a process for the preparation of quick cooking rice. Initially the rice is soaked to attain a uniform moisture content of 30 % wet basis, the soaked rice is cooked in excess water to attain a moisture content of 75 % and the cooked rice is washed to remove sticky surface layers of starch, the washed rice is dried in two stages using batch type through flow dryer in first stage and vibrofluidized bed drier in the second stage. The rice can be rehydrated after boiling in water at about 100°C for about 8-10 minutes
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is cooked in excess water and subsequently the cooked rice is washed to remove the starchy layer and hence the vitamins are leached out, also the rice has to be completely cooked before drying. This adds to the energy. The cooking and washing processes leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain Since the cooked rice is dried, the percentage of brokens increases. Most important is that the

rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to an Canadian patent CA2360635 by SARWIN RIDWAN, TEN HAVE SANDER, BLONK JOHANNES CORNELIS GERARD, GRAAF VAN DER LEENDERT MARINUS, GROENEWEG FRANSISCUS, HEMELAAR MARIA JOHANNA ADRIANA titled "QUICK COOKING RICE AND PROCESS TO MAKE" dated 2000-08-03 wherein the details of quick cooking rice process is reported. This patent is also published as WO0044244 (A1) and EP 1146796. The invention provides a process for the preparation of quick cooking rice with unique properties obtained by subjecting rice to a heat treatment in a hot gas stream while being in an annular, fluidised, swirling, preferably toroidal bed with horizontal and vertical velocity components. Very critical conditions for this process are: treatment times of 10-60 sec, at temperatures of 200-350 C depending on the batch size. Longitudinal cracks are present in the surface of the kernels when dried at such high temperatures. The rehydation time is 6 to 8 minutes.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is heated to very high temperatures of 350°C, which causes cracks on the surface, and subsequently the percentage of brokens increases. Also, at such high temperatures the vitamins are destroyed and add to the energy. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to an Italian patent IE822137L by Apothekernes Lab titled "quick cooking rice and vegetables" dated 1983-03-02. The process involves contacting fissured rice produced by preheating, with water and steam such that the rice is completely gelatinized and has moisture content up to about 70 weight percent. Such gelatinization is accomplished by spraying the rice alternately and progressively with water and steam. The gelatinized rice, without stirring, is then dried to final moisture content of between about 10 weight percent and 14 weight percent. A continuous process for producing quick cooking rice is provided herein. Such rice only requires approximately 5 minutes swelling time in hot, not boiling, water to prepare for consumption.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is completely cooked before dying. This adds to the cost, as it is energy intensive. The complete cooking leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to complete cooking, the percentage of brokens increases. The fissures caused during pretreatment may also increase the brokens.

Complete gelatinization is accomplished by spraying the rice alternately and progressively with water and steam. This make the system more complicated.
Reference may be made to British patent GB 884315 by ROSSEAU FRANCIS VINCENT; ROSSEN JORGEN entitled "Method of preparing a quick-cooking rice product" dated 1961-12-13. In preparing quick-cooking rice, fissured rice grains are cooked in a moisture-permeable, e.g. porous container by submerging it in hot, e.g. boiling, water or a hot aqueous cooking liquid, contained in a vessel, for a period of time, e.g. 10 minutes, and at a temperature sufficient to hydrate and gelatinize the starch. The container is then removed from the vessel and water or aqueous cooking liquid is allowed to drain away. The container is, preferably, provided with a handle and may be made of high wet-strength paper, perforated metal foil or flexible plastic material and may be a bag. The fissured rice grains may be produced by heating raw rice at a temperature between 43° to 107° C for 20 to 30 minutes, before or after it is placed in the container, in steam or a dry hot gas such as air or by means of dielectric or radiant heating.
The drawback of the above process is that it is a batch type process and the critical component is the moisture-permeable container, which makes the process very specific to method of heating. The fissures caused during pretreatment may also increase the brokens. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to British patent GB 755750 by GEN FOODS CORP entitled "Improvements in or relating to a method for preparing quick-cooking rice" dated 1956-08-29. Rice is gun-puffed to yield quick-cooking rice having a volume 2 to 3 times its original volume. The rice may be soaked in water and heated in the gun barrel, by a gas flame and/or live saturated steam under pres- sure, until it attains a terminal temperature between 160 and 190° C and a terminal moisture content ranging from a value between 18 to 38% at 160°C to 28 % at 190° C and thus subjected to a water vapour pressure corresponding to that of saturated steam at the particular rice temperature concerned, this pressure being suddenly released to the atmosphere by triggering-off the gun. The rice may be subjected to the terminal conditions prevailing after puffing, any puffed rice produced with a volume greater than that of the quick- cooking rice of the invention, may be removed. The pressure in the gun may be boosted by the introduction of air or carbon dioxide or an inert gas such as nitrogen. For rehydration about 140 g of the quick-cooking rice was placed -in 340 c c of boiling water and allowed to stand in the water for 5 minutes

The drawback of the above process is that it is a batch type process and the critical component is the gun puffing method, which makes the process very specific to method of heating.
Reference may be made to British patent GB579981 by GEN FOODS CORP entitled Improvements in or relating to quick cooking rice products and process of preparing same" dated 1946-08-22. A quick-cooking rice product is prepared by cooking rice for a period sufficient to gelatinize the starch and increase the moisture content to about 65-70 % without causing substantial damage thereto and then drying the swollen grains by removing moisture from their surfaces at a rate sufficiently faster than it can diffuse thereto from their interiors so as to set them in their enlarged condition and produce a porous structure therein. The rice may be soaked initially for 30-60 minutes in cold or warm water below the gelatinization point, i.e., 65-70 C, and may be cooled before drying by means of cold air or water. Soaked rice is cooked in boiling water for about 8-10 minutes and unsoaked rice for about 21-23 minutes. After cooking and draining, the rice may be spread in a layer not more than about 25 mm depth and dried by forced air circulation. With an inlet temperature of 140° C and an air velocity through the grains of 1 m/s, the grains are dried to 8-14 % moisture content in 10-15 minutes. Vitamins and other nutrition principles may be added as by immersing the grains in, or spraying them with, a solution thereof before or after drying. The product may be prepared for use by cooking in 1-1 times the volume of boiling water for about 2-3 minutes or by soaking in warm or cold water or milk.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is completely cooked before dying. This adds to the cost, as it is energy intensive. The complete cooking leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to complete cooking, the percentage of brokens increases. The cooked rice is cooled before drying, these two are contradictory process which adds to the energy and hence cost. The rice is sprayed with nutrients to compensate for the losses, which again is an additional process and adds to the cost. This make the system more complicated.
Reference may be made to British patent GB766822 by ATAULLAH KHAN OZAI DURRANI entitled "Improvements in or relating to quick-cooking rice", dated 1957-01-23. In preparing quick-cooking rice, dehulled rice is treated with water and heated to bring its moisture content progressively to between 60 and 75 % by weight. The treatment may comprise passing the rice through a series of water sprays of progressively increasing temperature until it attains a temperature of about 100° C. The rice should, acquire a

moisture content of about 30 % before gelatinization temperature (about 65 °C.) is passed. The rice may be sprayed with water at room temperature, then with hot water and/or steam to bring its temperature to about 100° C. and then with hot or cold water to bring its moisture content to between 60 and 75 per cent. Before being sprayed with hot water and/or steam, the rice may be steeped in or sprayed with hot water at a temperature between 60 and 100 ° C. to remove fatty material. Initially, the rice may be flash-steamed and then subjected to flash treatment with a fat-dissolving solvent, e.g. hexane or pentane. The moistened and gelatinized rice may be compressed mechanically, e.g. between rollers or rigid surfaces. It may be frozen and/or dried to moisture content between 10 to 14 %. The dried quick cooking rice produced in accordance with this process may be rapidly cooked by adding to one cup of the dried rice, one cup and a quarter of water and bringing the mixture to a boil The source of heat is removed and the mixture left for 10 minutes with the pan covered.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is completely cooked before dying. This adds to the cost, as it is energy intensive. The complete cooking leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to complete cooking, the percentage of brokens increases. The cooked rice is steeped in hot water and flash steamed with a fat dissolving solvent like hexane or pentane, which adds to the energy and hence cost. This make the system more complicated.
Reference may be made to British patent GB657691 by ATAULLAH KHAN OZAI DURRANI entitled "A quick-cooking rice and method of making the same" dated 1951-09-26. In a method of preparing a quick-cooking rice, rice grains, which may be partially gelatinized and/or parboiled, with a moisture content of 16-21% are slightly compressed without destroying their surface layers to create disruptions in the interior and surface layers of the grains and promote absorption of moisture by them during subsequent cooking and thereafter are dried. In a modification, partially gelatinized rice having a moisture content of 10-15 % may be exposed to moisture, which may contain flavouring material, and heat until about 2 % moisture is absorbed by the surface layers, then cooled before slightly compressing and drying to a moisture content of 10-14 %. Cooked for about 10 minutes in boiling water, the rice was ready for serving and the grains have the appearance of ordinary cooked rice; they are neither rubbery nor chewy and do not stick together.
The drawback of this process is that, compression methods relying on "size reduction" result in a rice product causes an unnatural appearance and modified mouthfeel as a result of the altered shape and size. Moreover, this require an additional process steps and machinery (cold-rolling or compression apparatus) to effect the size reduction. Most

important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to British patent GB784865 by ATAULLAH KHAN OZAI DURRANI entitled "Improvements in or relating to quick cooking rice" dated 1957-10-16. The process for preparing quick-cooking rice disclosed in the parent specification is modified in that the rice may be soaked in water until it attains a moisture content between 17 and 36 % then steamed, e.g. in an autoclave, or boiled in water to effect gelatinization and increase its moisture content to a value preferably not exceeding 40 %. The resulting rice may be soaked in water to bring its moisture content between 60 and 70 per cent before or after being mechanically compressed. The rice may be compressed between rolls or in a press. The compressed rice may be dried in a swift current of hot air until it contains between 10 and 14 %t moisture. The rice grains, subjected to mechanical compression, have exterior portions of moist, substantially completely gelatinized starch in a completely pliable condition, and interior portions ranging from relatively brittle, at least partially gelatized starch to substantially completely gelatinized starch in a completely pliable condition.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is completely cooked before dying. This adds to the cost, as it is energy intensive. The complete cooking leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to complete cooking, the percentage of brokens increases. The completely cooked rice is compressed and this causes an unnatural appearance and modified mouthfeel as a result of the altered shape and size. Moreover, this require an additional process steps and machinery (cold-rolling or compression apparatus) to effect the size reduction. Also, no drying step is included in the process and hence, storage of this rice may be a disadvantage.
Reference may be made to British patent GB737450 by ATAULLAH KHAN OZAI DURRANI entitled "Improvements in or relating to quick-cooking rice" dated 1955-09-28. This patent is also published as US 2733147. A process for preparing quick cooking rice comprises subjecting brittle gelatinized rice grains having a moisture content of 15 to 20 %, which may be obtained by gelatinizing soaked grain having a moisture content from 25-30 per cent, to heat and moisture to increase the total moisture content by 1-2 % with the added moisture substantially confined to the surface layers of the grains to produce pliable rubbery sheaths surrounding relatively brittle cores and then subjecting the treated grains to mechanical compression, e.g. by passing through rollers and preferably compressing their thickness from 30-80 % of their pre-compression thickness so that the internal structure of the grains is modified without reducing the grains to a flaked condition. The rice may be

gelatinized by soaking to raise the moisture content to about 35 % or above followed by treatment with substantially dry steam, soaked to a lower moisture content and treated with moist steam or it may be simply cooked in substantially the same manner as employed in the kitchen after which it is then dried to a moisture content of 10-20 % and thereafter remoistened, e.g. with wet steam to an extent sufficient to raise the overall moisture content of the grains by 1-2 % and the bulk of the moisture thus added being concentrated in the outer portion of the grain. After compression the rice grains are dried to stable moisture content, e.g. 10-14 %, for packaging, storage and distribution. Rice prepared in accordance with the present invention is, as aforementioned, a quick cooking product, capable of being cooked to soft textured, fluffy whole grains by simply placing the dry grains in water, bringing the water to a boil, discontinuing heating and allowing the water and rice to stand in a covered vessel or pan for about 10 minutes.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is soaked before dying. Soaking leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to soaking, the percentage of brokens increases. The saoked rice is compressed and this causes an unnatural appearance and modified mouthfeel as a result of the altered shape and size. Moreover, this require an additional process steps and machinery (cold-rolling or compression apparatus) to effect the size reduction. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to British patent GB737446 and GB737372 by ATAULLAH KHAN OZAI DURRANI entitled "Improvements in or relating to quick cooking rice and method of preparation thereof dated 1955-09-28. In a process of preparing quick-cooking rice, hulled rice grains are steamed for a period of 30 to 900 seconds and thereafter dried to stable moisture content to alter the structure of the grains so that upon subsequent cooking the rice will absorb water rapidly so that the cooking time is reduced. The hulled grains may be soaked to increase the moisture content to 25-30 % and then steamed for a period of 30 to 180 seconds. Steaming may be carried out in a conventional manner, e.g. by an autoclave, a rotary cooker, preferably in an apparatus providing for the rapid passage of steam through the grain, e.g. by passing the rice through a cylindrical cooker in the center of which is a perforated steam line through which steam under e.g. 3.5 - 7 bars pressure is ejected at such a rate that even though it is vented from the column a pressure of about 0.35 - 0.7 kg is maintained within the column. Drying may be effected by spreading the rice in thin layers for a period of about two days or by blowing air across or through the layers for 12 to 24 hours or in a forced draught drier for about 30 minutes the optimum drying temperature being about 60°C and the grain being reduced to a moisture content of 10-14

%. In an example 50 kg of white rice with a moisture content of about 14 % is placed in a 400 liters vessel together with about 230 liters of water and allowed to soak for 30 minutes when it is removed and drained and transferred to an 300-Liters autoclave and treated with steam at 0.55 bar pressure for 5 minutes after which the grains are removed and dried in any conventional manner to a moisture content of 10 to 14 per cent, e.g. in a forced draught hot-air drier using air at 60 °C the drying being effected in about 30 minutes after which the product is packaged. The rice is rehydrated by placing the same in water, heating the water to a boil, continuing boiling for 3 minutes and allowing the rice to stand in the hot water in a covered vessel or pan for 10 minutes.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is steamed before dying for 30 to 900 seconds. Alternatively, the rice is also soaked. Soaking in the initial stages leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to soaking, the percentage of brokens increases. The saoked rice is compressed and this causes an unnatural appearance and modified mouthfeel as a result of the altered shape and size. Moreover, this require an additional process steps and machinery (cold-rolling or compression apparatus) to effect the size reduction. The drying process is low temperature long duration method, which causes cracks in the product. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to British patent GB794744 by GEN FOODS CORP entitled "Improvements in quick cooking dry rice" dated 1958-05-07. In the preparation of quick-cooking rice from raw fissured rice grains excessive swelling and bursting of starch granules during water cooking is prevented by cooking in two stages, firstly in water at 85 ° -100° C to swell and partially gelatinize the grains and increase their moisture content to 50-70 % and secondly in steam to complete the gelatinization and increase the moisture content to 65-80 per cent. After cooling the grains by a blast of cold air or preferably by immersion in cold water to prevent further gelatinization they are rapidly dried. Preferably, the fissured rice is provided by heating raw rice containing 6-18 % moisture in a convection oven or by means of infrared radiation or an alternating electrostatic field for periods of 10-30 minutes to raise the final surface temperature of the grains to 82-138 °C at 6 per cent moisture and 43 -93°C at 18 % moisture, but other methods, e.g., mechanical shock and extreme cold may be employed.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is completely cooked before dying. This adds to the cost, as it is energy intensive. The complete cooking leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally

present in the rice grain. Also, due to complete cooking, the percentage of brokens increases. The starting material is fissured rice, which causes brokens during the processing. Alternatively, the cooked rice is exposed to mechanical shock and extreme cold. This require an additional process steps and machinery (cold-rolling or compression apparatus) to effect the size reduction.
Reference may be made to British patent GB781062 by ALLISON JIM E, CARMAN CHARLES R entitled "Improvements in or relating to quick-cooking cereal and method of making same" dated 1957-08-14. In making a quick-cooking puffed cereal, e.g. rice, oats, wheat, farina (centers of hard wheat) and hominy, having for about 20 minutes after immersion in water at 93 °C a rate of hydration at least one third higher than the original cereal, air is removed from the cereal, e.g. by moistening it and reducing the pressure, and replaced by steam under pressure, the cereal is cooked in steam at increased temperature and pressure, e.g. to effect substantially complete gelatinization of the starch content, the pressure is reduced explosively to puff the cereal and kept reduced until the cereal is set, i.e. does not collapse when it comes under atmospheric pressure. The puffed cereal may be dried in air or in steam under reduced pressure. Preferably, the moisture content of puffed wheat, farina and hominy is brought to a value between 10 and 15 % before reimposition of atmospheric pressure. The cereal may be cooked at a pressure between 1.7 and 5.2 bars which may be reduced to 0.07 bar absolute or less, e.g. to a value between 0.0034 and 0.0068 bar. During the puffing and setting of rice, its temperature may be brought below 38°C preferably, below 4 °C. The puffed rice may contain small uniformly distributed cavities and after being immersed for 4 minutes in water at temperatures between 88 and 99°C, it may absorb 20 to 28 % of its dry weight of water per minute for a period of 10 minutes.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is soaked for a longer duration of about 20 minutes and then completely cooked under steam pressure to cause puffing. This adds to the cost, as it is energy intensive. The complete cooking leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to complete cooking, the percentage of brokens increases. Also, these are highly specialized methods which may not be applicable to all the variety of products. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to British patent GB771378 by UNILEVER LTD entitled "Improvements in the preparation of quick-cooking cereal products" dated 1957-04-03. In preparing a quick-cooking cereal, e.g. rice or barley, the cereal is substantially gelatinized and rinsed with water. The resulting substantially discrete grains are compressed, e.g.

between rolls, and dried, e.g. in a current of air at 79°C until they have a moisture content between 3 and 14 %. The cereal, preferably washed, may be soaked in water at a temperature below the gelatinization point, e.g. room temperature, until it has absorbed all or nearly all the water required for uniform gelatinization, which may then be brought about by heating the soaked cereal, e.g. in steam at super-atmospheric pressure. The gelatinized grains may be allowed to take up more water during rinsing or they may be soaked in water between rinsing and compressing. The grains may be compressed within 90 minutes of rinsing and may be washed between compressing and drying. The cereal may be treated with an antioxidant, preferably citric acid, which may be added to the soaking or wash water.
Reference may also be made to a similar process designated by US patent US 2890957 by Edward Seltzer, Teaneck, N.J entitled " Proces for preparing quick cooking rice" dated 1953-09-30.
The drawback of the above processes is that, the rice is completely cooked and rinsed with water before drying. Complete cooking and rinsing leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to cooking, the percentage of brokens increases. The cooked rice is compressed and this causes an unnatural appearance and modified mouthfeel as a result of the altered shape and size. Moreover, this require an additional process steps and machinery (cold-rolling or compression apparatus) to effect the size reduction. The drying process is low temperature long duration method, which causes cracks in the product. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to British patent GB746787 by GEN FOODS CORP entitled Improvements in or relating to production of quick-cooking rice" dated 1956-03-21. In making quick-cooking rice, rice grains are completely hydrated in stages, the grains being partially or completely gelatinized in an intermediate hydration stage by heating them in the absence of excess water, and the completely hydrated grains are dried rapidly to retain the whole or part of their swelling. Hydration may be effected by soaking the grains in water, which may be brought to pH 3.5 by adding phosphoric acid. Completely gelatinized grains may be completely hydrated in water at a temperature below 71 °C. Hydration and gelatinization of partially gelatinized grains may be completed by soaking them in water at a temperature above 71 °C. The completely hydrated grains contain between 50 and 75% of water. The grains may be heated in steam at atmospheric pressure or at a pressure of 0.7 bars. The steamed grains may be subjected to slight compression but not flaked. The grains

may be dried until they contain less than 30 % of water and may then be puffed, without toasting, at a temperature between 121 and 177°C.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is hydrated in stages for complete cooking. This leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to soaking, the percentage of brokens increases. The rice is soaked in water with pH of 3.5 by adding chemicals, which may not be acceptable. The grains have to be heated for cooking under pressure using steam. The steamed rice is then compressed which causes an unnatural appearance and modified mouthfeel as a result of the altered shape and size. Moreover, this require an additional process steps and machinery (cold-rolling or compression apparatus) to effect the size reduction. The drying process is carried out specifically to puff the grains at elevated temperatures of 121 and 177°C.
Reference may be made to British patent GB1044968 by KETT GEORGE entitled "Improvements in or relating to quick-cooking rice and the production therof" dated 1966-10-05. In making quick-cooking rice, hulled rice grains, such as polished grains of Siam or American Patna rice, are soaked in water having a temperature between 81 and 84 C for 10 to 15 minutes; the soaked grains are drained on a metal screen for 2 to 3 minutes, to bring their water-content to at least 50%, by weight, and are then dried to a stable moisture content between 11 and 14%, in a drier provided with rotary louvres, to which air heated to a temperature between 70 and 100 C is admitted. The soaking water may contain a small quantity, e.g. 0.1% w/v of a non-volatile organic acid, such as citric or tartaric acid. The drained rice grains may be sprayed with cold water until cool and again drained, e.g. to attain a water- content between 58.6 and 60.6%. The dried quick-cooking rice may be brushed through a coarse screen and packed. The product is prepared for the table by cooking in boiling water for about 6 to 7 minutes.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is soaked for a longer period of 10 to 15 minutes. This leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to soaking, the percentage of brokens increases. The rice is soaked in water containing non-volatile organic acid, such as citric or tartaric acid. Adding chemicals may not be acceptable. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to British patent GB1092836 by TONSETH ERNST IVAR entitled "Process for producing quick-cooking rice dated" 1967-11-29. A process for

producing a quickly cooked rice product comprises heating hulled, polished, conditioned rice grains in a dry atmosphere to 140° C maintaining the grains at 140-225° for 1-10 minutes, and then is stabilized in the silo for 24 hours cooling the grains to produce cracks in the grains. The rice grains have a high content of amylose when the product is to be cooked in water. When the product is to be cooked in milk, the rice grains have low amylose content and after having been treated as described above, they are coated with gelatinised rice starch. For rehydration the rice is heated with a measured quantity of water, for 4 to 5 minutes, and the rice must also be allowed to stand for 2 to 3 minutes.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is conditioned at 140 - 225°C for upto 10 minutes. Further, they have to be is stabilized in the silo for 24 hours cooling the grains to produce cracks in the grains. This increases the percentage of brokens. The throughput may be less or the silos and other infrastructure need higher investments.
Reference may be made to US patent US5820909 by HYLLSTAM MARI; NORBERG MICHAEL, PAAHLSSON STEN entitled "Method of processing rice to provide a quick-cooking rice" dated 1998-10-13. A method of processing rice to provide a quick-cooking rice includes the steps of fluidizing the rice by recirculation of a gaseous fluid of saturated steam at 100° C during a first and major part of a cooking time period; injecting saturated make-up steam at 100 ° C into the recirculating gaseous fluid in order to compensate condensated steam; spraying water of a temperature close to 100 ° C upon the fluidized rice at most during the first and major part of the cooking time period and in an amount calculated for gelatinizing all starch of the fluidized rice; and drying the rice mainly in fluidized state in a successive second zone by dry air. According to the invention, it may be necessary to increase the velocity of the fluidizing air by using high-pressure air at critical moments of the processing, i.e. when the rice is especially difficult to fluidize. The transfer area between the cooking section and the drying section represents such a critical moment. Fluidization may also be facilitated by the use of a vibrated fluid bed, i.e. by vibrating the bottom of the trough or the whole trough containing the rice. Finally, a less sticky product could be obtained by inserting a step of spraying the rice with water, e.g. at 50° C, before the drying thereof.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is fluidized using recirculation of a gaseous fluid of saturated steam at 100° C. This needs specialized equipment and safety factors when steam is being used to fluidize the product are very important. Additionally, the system also needs high-pressure air at critical moments of the processing, i.e. when the rice is especially difficult to fluidize.
Reference may be made to US patent US5089281 by BAZ AFIF A (US); HSU JAU Y entitled "Preparation of quick cooking rice" dated 1992-02-18. This patent is also published

as EP0379870 and ES2019026 dated 1990-08-01. A quick-cooking rice product is prepared by first cooking rice at atmospheric pressure in water sufficient to hydrate the rice to a moisture content of from about 60% to 75% by weight and at a temperature of about 90 to 100 °C for 1 to 10 minutes for hydrating the rice to a moisture content of from about 30% to 60% by weight. The water cooked rice then is steam pressure cooked in water with agitation at a pressure of from about 0.33 to about 3.3 bars above atmospheric pressure for from about 1 to 50 minutes for further hydrating and gelatinizing the rice for obtaining a cooked rice which has a moisture content of from about 60% to 75% by weight and which is about 85% to 100% gelatinized. After steam pressure cooking, the pressure is gradually released for avoiding puffing the cooked rice. The cooked rice then is dried at a temperature from about 140 to 205 C.
In general, to prepare a quick-cooking rice products for consumption three methods can be employed. They are "standing" "simmering" and " sauting". In an example of a "standing" method, 100 g to 120 g of the rice are added to about 230 ml of boiled water, brought back to boil, removed from the heat, covered and allowed to stand, on average, for from about 8 mins to 10 mins. As examples of simmering 120 g of the quick cooking parboiled rice is added into about 460 ml boiling water, heat is reduced and simmerred for about 8 mins. As an example of sauting about 120 g of quick cooking, parboiled rice with 1 tablespoon butter or oil for 2 mins. Add 230 ml water, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 8 mins. The rice will have a texture and appearance of fried rice. If treated milled white rice is used, the simmering time is shorter and be on the order of from 5 to 7 minutes, and for wild or brown rice, the preparation time will be longer.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is completely cooked by using pressurized steam for 50 minutes. Complete cooking and rinsing leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to cooking, the percentage of brokens increases. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to US patent US4921718 by OHTSU SUSUMU entitled "Method for producing quick cooking processed rice" dated 1990-05-01. A method for producing quick cooking processed rice in which brown rice is pounded and refined into cleaned rice. The cleaned rice is washed in water, removed from the water and the remaining water is removed. The cleaned rice is soaked in an ethanol aqueous solution for absorbing the solution. The solution absorbed rice is removed from the remaining solution and is packaged in a sealed container. The thicker the ethanol aqueous solution, the longer

it takes for said cleaned rice to absorb the solution. For example, it takes more than 10 hours to have the rice absorb the solution by 15% of the rice weight in 10% ethanol aqueous solution at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. If the cleaned rice is soaked in the ethanol aqueous solution in an airtight vessel and if the pressure in the vessel is reduced and increased alternatively by an air compressor, the absorption is attained in 1/10 of the time, although absorption time varies depending on pressure differential. The rice with absorbed ethanol aqueous solution is taken out of the solution and the remaining solution is removed from the surface of the rice grains. A centrifugal separator drains it quickly, but a container with a net at the bottom is also satisfactory although removing it takes time. The ethanol aqueous solution contains dissolved residuals of unseparated fat or other rice bran. These are carried in with the cleaned rice and the residuals remain on the surface of the processed rice causing it to ruin both quality and taste of the cooked rice if the remaining solution is not removed from the surface of the rice grain.
The ethanol absorbed rice was then moved immediately to a net container where it was left for 2 hours. Later, 200 gs (300 cc) of the ethanol absorbed rice was scooped out to be moved into a RINNAI automatic gas cooker (1 kg capacity), in which 300 cc of water was added to complete preparation for cooking. Boiling inside the cooker started 3 minutes after the cooker had been turned on. The switch was automatically turned off in 6 minutes 20 seconds after boiling started and then steaming (caring) was allowed to take place with the warming switch kept on. After 5 minutes of steaming, the warming switch was manually turned off to complete cooking.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is soaked in ethanol aqueous solution for absorbing the solution. It takes more than 10 hours to have the rice absorb the solution by 15% of the rice weight in 10% ethanol aqueous solution at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. This is too long a process. Adding chemicals may not be acceptable. Further, a centrifugal separator is used to drain the excess ethanol aqueous solution. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to US patent US4361593 by BROOKS ARTHUR W; GARIBIAN VAHAN M; SARMA MONOJ K entitled "Process for preparing dry quick-cooking parboiled rice and product thereof dated 1982-11-30. The principal objects of the present invention are to provide an improved dry parboiled rice product and a process for preparing it, wherein the rice can be rapidly rehydrated for consumption, but yet is relatively non-starchy. This is achieved by modifying prior art parboiled rice procedures by less than completely gelatinizing the starch during steaming, and then tempering the rice under non-

gelatinizing conditions for a period of time effective to reduce subsequent rupturing of the starch granules upon rehydration. Aside from the combination of the steaming and tempering steps of the present invention which render the dry parboiled rice both quick cooking and non-starchy upon rehydration, the remainder of processing to achieve a dry parboiled rice product is similar to that practice by the prior art. Thus, as with the prior art, the rough rice is preferably treated to either remove the air which is trapped under the rice husks by subjecting the rice to a partial vacuum prior to steeping the rice under atmospheric pressure, or the rice can be steeped under elevated pressure to displace the air. For example, a vacuum of at least 25 inches of mercury (0.9 bar) will be employed for about 30 minutes to remove entrapped air and aid soaking of the rice. To increase the whiteness of the resultant parboiled rice product, it may be desirable to acidify the steep water by adding an acid, such as adipic or phosphoric acid, to achieve a pH of from about 3 to 7, preferably about 4 to 5. The acid may bleach the rice somewhat and reduce browning enzymes to achieve the lightest product color. This parboiled rice can be rehydrated fully by cooking in boiling water at atmospheric pressure for 15 minutes.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is subjected to vacuum of about 1 bar or steeping the rice for 30 minutes. Also, the water used for steeping needs to be acidified by use of chemicals. Adding chemicals may not be acceptable. Also, the application of vacuum needs additional equipment and steps in the processing. Soaking or steeping leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to this, the percentage of brokens may also increases.
Reference may be made to US patent US4338344 by BROOKS ARTHUR W; STEVENSON RICHARD B entitled "Process for producing a quick-cooking rice" dated 1982-07-06. In accordance with the present invention, an improved process and apparatus for preparing a fully gelatinized rice product by cooking the rice in water in a first zone under conditions effective to raise the moisture content to within the range of from 30 to 75% by weight and to partially gelatinize the rice, then subjecting the rice to steam cooking in a second zone to substantially complete gelatinization of the starch in the rice, and then preferably drying the rice is provided. The improvement in the process comprises maintaining said first and second zones within the same enclosed vessel and continuously advancing rice from first to second zone. Retention times of the rice in the steam in the second zone will be from about 1 to 30 minutes, with about 5 to 15 minutes being preferred. The fully cooked rice upon exiting the chamber is preferably washed to remove excess surface starch and to cool the rice. This can be accomplished with a spray of water or in a flume of moderately heated water to cool the rice to a temperature below about 77° C. The

preferred dry quick-rehydrating fully gelatinized rice product prepared in this manner is easily rehydrated for serving by preferably adding the rice product to boiling water and then removing from the heat and allowing the rice to stand for about 3 to 10 minutes. Other means of rehydrating the dry rice product can be employed depending upon the particular dry rice product produced, but preferably the rice is quick rehydrating, i.e. rehydrates in 5 to 10 minutes by either simmering, standing, and/or boiling.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is completely cooked in two stages by using steam for upto 30 minutes. The completely cooked rice is again washed to remove excess starch and to cool the rice. Complete cooking and subsequent washing leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to cooking, the percentage of brokens increases. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to US patent US4133898 by CARLSON ROBERT A; ROBERTS ROBERT L; FARKAS DANIEL F entitled "Process for preparing quick-cooking rice" dated 1979-01-09. Quick-cooking white, brown, and wild rice are prepared by a process wherein the rice is soaked in water, cooked, and dried in a centrifugal fluidized bed drier while being tumbled at least two different centrifugal forces. In the case of white rice varieties, the following steps are employed: (a) the rice is first soaked at ambient temperature for a period of 1 hour; (b) the soaked rice is cooked at 100° for about 4 to 40 minutes; and (c) the hot rice is dried in a centrifugal fluidized bed drier at a temperature of 140-150°C and an air velocity of 610-915 meters per minute; the rice is tumbled at a peripheral speed of 20-30 meters per minute for a period of about 1 to 2 minutes and then is subjected to a centrifugal force of about 2 to 30 times g for a period of 3 to 6 minutes. The total drying time is usually about 4 to 7 minutes.
The quick-cooking wild rice can be rehydrated by placing it in about 2.5 parts of boiling water (per part of rice) and allowing the rice to boil for about 15 minutes or until it is tender and ready for consumption. The dried rice was rehydrated by adding 10 g. of rice to 25 ml. of boiling water and holding for 10 min. without additional heating. The so-prepared brown rice was rehydrated by placing it in boiling water for a period of 15 min.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is completely cooked in two stages by using steam for upto 30 minutes. The completely cooked rice is again washed to remove excess starch and to cool the rice. Complete cooking and subsequent washing leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally

present in the rice grain. Also, due to cooking, the percentage of brokens increases. The rice is dried in a centrifugal drier subjecting the rice to centrifugal process. This further leads to brokens to whirling action. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking rice.
Reference may be made to US patent US3959515 by MCCABE DOUGLAS entitled "Process for preparing quick-cooking brown rice and the resulting product" dated 1976-05-25. Brown rice is made quick-cooking, that is, cooking by 5 minutes of boiling in the home in contrast with the customary time of 30 to 40 minutes required for unprocessed brown rice, by a series of soaking and baking steps, with the last step having both baking and drying effects. First step is to soak in water for 2 to 3 hours in order to saturate the brown rice with water. The time can be reduced somewhat by using warm water, but hot water causes undesirable stickiness and mushiness. In the second step the rice is baked for approximately 40 minutes at a temperature of 148 to 177 °C to dry the brown rice and impart to it a light brown color. Step 1 can be eliminated if Step 2 is performed for approximately 20 minutes at a temperature of approximately 232 °C but this modification in the process has the disadvantage that extreme caution is required to avoid scorching, which detracts from the optimum odor, taste and palatability of the finished article of manufacture. In step 3, soak a second time in room-temperature water for 2 to 3 hours, this operation causing the brown rice to swell to double or more its original size with the completion of the operation being indicated by the fact that no further swelling is occurring. The time can be reduced somewhat by using warm water, but hot water is undesirable as it causes stickiness and mushiness. In step 4 the rice is baked a second time for approximately 40 minutes at a temperature of 148 to 177 °C to dry the brown rice and impart to it a medium brown color.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is soaked for 2 to 3 hours and baked in a series of stages for a longer duration for upto 40 minutes. This process leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to cooking, the percentage of brokens increases. Baking at higher temperatures of 232°C will destroy the nutrients.
Reference may be made to US patent US3879566 by COX JAMES PATRICK; COX JEANNE MARIE entitled "Process for preparing a quick-cooking rice" dated 1975-04-22. Various varieties of rice are subjected to heat treatment either by torrefaction in the presence of some water, by steaming, or by boiling, the water in each instance containing dissolved chemicals, for the purpose of modifying the protein content and the starch content to condition the product for subsequent accelerated water imbibation during final cooking for eating. After the heat and chemical treatment the rice product is rinsed to remove chemical

residue and to eliminate clumping. The rice is then dried. The rinsing preferably should not be continued for more than 3 minutes to 5 minutes if the rice is to be subjected to dry steam heat treatment subsequently. Otherwise, the rice may remain in the rinse water for a considerable period of time, such as 10 minutes to 30 minutes, to increase the depth and uniformity of penetration of the water into the rice kernels. Heat treatment of the rice is effected in the presence of the aqueous chemical or chemical solution. Such chemical may be alkali metal phosphate, i.e. phosphate of sodium or potassium including orthophosphates, pyrophosphates and metaphosphates. Specific examples are monosodium phosphate, NaH2 PO4, disodium phosphate, Na2 HPO4, sodium trimetaphosphate, (NaPO3)3, disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate, Na2 H2 P2 07, and tetrasodium pyrophosphate, Na4 P2 07. It is believed that alkali metal phosphates act principally to modify the starch of the rice for increasing its hydrophilic character, but may also modify the protein of the rice to reduce its protection of the starch from water absorption. Trisodium phosphate, Na3 P04, is undesirable because of its adverse cross-linking characteristics, which may actually deter absorption of water by the rice and prevent its gelatinization. The resulting quick-cooking rice product can be cooked finally to a palatable state by boiling in water at atmospheric pressure for a period of 2 minutes to 8 minutes.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is dried in stages by intense heat in the presence of dissolved chemicals, for the purpose of modifying the protein content and the starch content to condition the product. Adding chemicals may not be acceptable.
Reference may be made to British patent GB995729 by WILLOCK JAMES TAYLOR entitled "Improvements in or relating to the modification of rice" dated 1965-06-23. In producing modified rice grains which are particularly suitable for rice puddings, the moisture content of milled rice grains is raised, uniformly throughout them at a temperature below the gelatinizing point of the starch therein, to a value between 18 and 30%, preferably between 22 and 28%, by weight, and the moist grains are then heated to expel moisture rapidly, e.g. to reduce their moisture content to between 10 and 14%, and thus create fissures in the grains and increase their porosity. The milled rice grains may be treated with humid air until they absorb sufficient moisture. Alternatively, the milled rice grains may be soaked in, or sprayed with, water for 30 minutes at 20° C or for 10 minutes at 55 to 60 ° C, then centrifuged to remove surface moisture and conditioned, as by being contained in a closed space for 30 minutes to 4 hours at 20° C or retained, for 10 minutes at 55 ° C in a current of air having a relative humidity between 80 and 90%. The moist grains may be heated by infrared or dielectric, e.g. radio frequency, heating. Alternatively, the moist grains may be heated by passing air or inert gas, having a temperature between 90 and 120 ° C over and/or through them for 2 to 6 minutes, as by carrying a thin (18mm) layer of moist

grains on a traveling, permeable, e.g. perforated, belt through a dryer and blowing heated air or inert gas upwardly through the grains on one portion of the belt and then downwardly through the grains on another portion of the belt. The dried grains may then be cooled, as by passing air at room temperature downwardly through them as they are carried on the belt.
The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is needs to be treated with humid air or soaked for 10 to 30 minutes. The surface moisture is removed by for 30 minutes to 4 hours at 20° C or retained, for 10 minutes at 55 ° C in a current of air having a relative humidity between 80 and 90%. All these process will cause damage to the kernels and hence not suitable as they lead to brokens. This process leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to cooking, the percentage of brokens increases.
Reference may be made to a French patent FR2802776 by CELLE ROBERT (FR); BOURDELIN FRANCK (FR) entitled "Method for making preheated fast cooking whole cereal products and resulting products" dated 2001-07-05. 2001-07-05. This patent is also published as WO0147374.The invention concerns a method for making a fast cooking cereal product. The product is obtained by a first long, gradual or controlled steam cooking, called sequential cooking (with cycles of about 100 DEG C), followed by slicing and a second brief infrared cooking, thereby obtaining a whole product, which has preserved almost completely its dietetic properties and its mineral salts, its vitamins, its micronutrients, etc, and which is rapidly cooked in about 10 minutes. The invention is applicable to hard wheat, semi-hard wheat, soft wheat, rye, spelt wheat, rice, barley, like cereals, and mixtures thereof.
The drawback of the above process is that long, gradual or controlled steam cooking, called sequential cooking. This will cause damage to the kernels and hence not suitable as they lead to brokens. This process leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to cooking, the percentage of brokens increases. Most important is that the rehydration time is quite high as generally, it should be less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking product.
Reference may be made to an US patent US3694226 by FUSI ROBERT W; HAIGH JOSEPH B entitled "QUICK-COOKING RICE PRODUCT AND PROCESS FOR PREPARING SAME" dated 1972-09-26. Generally, the process involves the steps of hydrating rice to raise its moisture content to about 30 to 50% to cause swelling of the rice and at least partial gelatinization thereof in a first stage. Further partially gelatinizing, the hydrated rice in a second stage while increasing its moisture content to about 55 to 70 %. Subsequently substantially completing the gelatinized rice in a third stage by exposing said

rice to steam. Terminating the gelatinization by exposing the gelatinized rice to water, during which exposure its moisture content is increased to about 68 to 78%. Drying the gelatinized rice to reduce in moisture content about 7 to 14 %.
The drawback of the above process is that long, gradual or controlled steam cooking, to completely cook the rice. The cooked rice is subsequently washed in water. This process leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, due to cooking, the percentage of brokens increases.
Reference may be made to an US patent US3582352 by MORITAKA SHINTARO; YASUMATSU Entitled "PREPARATION OF QUICK-COOKING RICE " dated 1971-06-01. A process for preparing a quick-cooking rice comprises of a series of steps including soaking raw white rice in an aqueous medium until its moisture content falls within a range from about 25 to 35%. The soaked rice steamed under atmospheric pressure for about 5 minutes to about 1 hour thereby partially gelatinizing the soaked rice. Soaking the partially gelatinized rice in an aqueous medium until its moisture content falls within a range from about 45 to 59 % and applying in this step 0.03 to about 3% of an edible oil, a surfactant or a moisture thereof to the rice. Again steaming the soaked rice under atmospheric pressure until it is completely gelatinized. Drying the gelatinized rice grains with a steam of air heated at about 30°to about 100°c to a moisture content range from about 8 to about 20%; and Expanding the dried rice grains with a steam of air heated at a temperature from about 200° to about 400°C, for a period of time sufficient to increase the volume of said rice to about 3 to 6 times that of the raw rice.
The drawback of the above process is that the rice is soaked and is subsequently steamed under pressure for upto 1 hour. The complete cooking of rice is carried out in different stages with edible oil, a surfactant. The cooked rice is expanded at a temperature from about 200° to about 400°C, This process leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, the percentage of brokens increases.
Reference may be made to an US patent US3408202 by IRVING BENETT; SERBIA GEORGE W entitled "Process for preparing a quick-cooking rice" dated 1968-10-29. The process involves soaking parboiled rice in water below its gelatinization temperature followed by alternating steaming and cold water immersions, employing two or more such cycles to achieve the desired degree of cook for the product. The grain is drained of excess moisture and enveloped in an atmosphere of saturated steam wherein, another small

quantity of water is deposited on the grain surfaces. After the condition of a uniform, fully cooked, swollen, h yd rated rice grain is achieved, specific drying techniques are practiced under conditions. While puffing or creation of internal voids to a moderate degree may thus take place during dehydration.
The drawback of the above process is that the rice is soaked and is subsequently steamed under pressure for upto 1 hour. The complete cooking of rice is carried out in different stages. The cooked rice is puffed at a higher temperature. This process leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. Also, the percentage of brokens increases.
Reference may be made to an US patent US3189461 by CHERRY JAMES R; MANHATTAN BANK THE CHASE entitled "Process for producing quick-cooking rice" dated 1965-06-15. In general, the process of constitutes gelatinizing and hydrating rice to moisture content of about 60% to 80%, freezing the gelatinized and hydrated rice, thawing the frozen rice at a rate slow enough so that the water formed by thawing is reabsorbed by the rice and drying the rice to stable moisture content of about 14%, or below.
The drawback of the above process is that the rice is gelatinized and hydrated and is freezed. The frozen rice is thawed at a slow rate. This process leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain. The additional processing of freezing & thawing adds to the cots and energy of the processing.
Reference may be made to an US patent US2890957 by EDWARD SELTZER entitled "Process for preparing quick-cooking rice" dated 1959-06-16. The method of processing raw grains of rice to form a quick-cooking product comprises of soaking milled and polished raw rice grains in water for at least 15 minutes at a temperature less then that causes gelatinization, pressure cooking said soaked grains by subjecting them to steam at an elevated pressure of about 1 bar for approximately 30 minutes until there is substantially complete gelatinization thereof, discharging the cooked grains into a body of water and agitating the cooked grains in a said body of water to separate them into discrete grains, subjecting said discrete grains to transient compressive forces by passing them between a pair of rolls spaced apart a distance between 0.25 and 0.75 mm, washing said grains to remove any exuded juices, and drying said grains to a moisture content between about 5% and 14% in an atmosphere having a temperature less then that which will cause darkening of the grains.

The drawback of the above process is that, the rice is cooked in water and subsequently cooked rice is washed to remove the starchy layer and hence the vitamins are leached out, also the rice has to be completely cooked before drying. This adds to the energy. The cooking and washing processes leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain Since the cooked rice is dried, the percentage of brokens increases. The cooked rice is compressed between rolls. All these multiple steps add to the cost and energy of the process.
Reference may be made to an US patent US2813796 by KENEASTER KENNETH K; NEWLIN HARRISON E entitled "Process for producing a quick-cooking product of rice or other starchy vegetable" dated 1957-11-19. A batch of whole-grain or head rice was first steeped under water for a period of sixteen hours, with the water temperature at room temperature. After steeping, the rice was cooked in water, with 5:1 of rice. The mixture of water and rice was first warmed to a temperature of 95°C. During a period of twenty minutes and then cooked at a gentle boil for a period of 35 minutes with the temperature of cooking water varying from 96°C to 101°C. The cooking was stopped abruptly to avoid overcooking and uneven cooking, the cooking water being dried from the rice over a period of 60 - 70 seconds. The rice was the divided into quantities not exceeding 2 kg each and each of these quantities placed in a sealed jar. The sealed jars were then put in ordinary mechanical refrigerators, having a temperature of approximately 2.5 to 3°C, care been taken that only a few jars placed in each refrigerator, so that the cooling capacities of the household refrigerators used were not overloaded. The sealed jars of rice were left in the refrigerators until cooled to about 2.5 to 3°C. The jars were removed from refrigerators, wrapped in insulated material, and placed in a freezing unit having a temperature of -18°C. It took approximately one hour to cool the rice to freezing temperature, another hour to reduce the temperature of the rice to approximately 18°C below zero degree centigrade. At the end of the four hours, the jars were removed from the freezing unit and the rice permitted to thaw at room temperature. During this thawing operation, the covers were kept on the jars to prevent evaporation of moisture or drying of the rice during the thawing operation, but the wrapping around the jars was removed to facilitate thawing. The rice was then removed from the jars, spread out, and dried in a strong current of dry, hot air, whose temperature was not permitted to exceed 40°C the drying was continued until the rice had a moisture content less then 6%, and this drying operation was completed in approximately six hours.
The drawback of this process is that, it is basically a batch process, involving multiple steps of steeping for long hours, cooking, freezing, thawing and drying. The drying operation takes six hours, which is too long.

Reference may be made to US patent US 2,828,209 by HOLLIS JR FRANK; MILLER FRANK G entitled ''Process of preparing a quick cooking rice" dated 1954—08-24. A process of cooking a quick rice from raw rice grains that are subsequently whole and unbroken but have internal cracks and fissures comprising of subjecting said rice grains to cooking in water at 190°-200°F, to partially gelatinize the grains and to increase the moisture content thereof to about 50-70% with concomitant swelling. The fissured rice is provided by subjecting raw rice containing 6-18% moisture to infrared radiation, the time of exposure being correlated with the intensity of radiation to raise the surface temperature of the grains to a range of 55 to 125°C. The partially gelatinized grains are steamed to complete the geiatinization and the moisture content increases to about 65% to 80%. This completely gelatinized rice is then dried in their enlarged condition to produce a porous structure therein.
The drawback of this process is that infrared radiation is used to create fissures and fissured rice is completely cooked. This adds to the energy. The cooking and washing processes leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain Since the cooked rice is dried, the percentage of brokens increases.
Reference may be made to US patent US 2,740.719 by OZAI-DURRANI ATAULLAH K entitled "Quick cooking rice and process thereof" dated 1956-4-03. A process for preparing quick cooking rice comprises of soaking hulled ungelatinised rice grains in water at a temperature below geiatinization temperatures to increase the moisture content thereof to with in the range of about 25-30 % where by the grains become checked, steaming the soaked rice grains for at least about 30 seconds under conditions such as to increase their moisture content by not more than 6%, and thereafter drying the rice to a stable moisture content, said process serving to alter the structure of the grains in order that upon subsequent cooking the rice will absorb water very rapidly so that the time required for cooking is reduced.
The drawback of this process is that the rice is soaked. This adds to the energy. The cooking and washing processes leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain Since the cooked rice is dried, the percentage of brokens increases.
Reference may be made to US patent US 2,720,460 by FLYNN CHARLES E;
HOLLIS JR FRANK entitled "Production of quick-cooking rice" dated 1955-10-

11. As a process milled rice was soaked in water at room temperature for 30 minutes, to moisture content of about 25% wet basis. After draining the excess water, the soaked rice was cooked for 45 minutes by passing saturated steam at atmospheric pressure upwardly through a bed thereof, the moisture content after steaming is about 30 %, the rice is then resoaked by immersion in water at 38°C, for approximately 30 minutes, gentle agitation being employed to break up any clumps formed during cooking. After draining and rising, the resoaked rice had moisture content of about 61%. The wet rice were spread in a layer on a screen and dried by forced air circulation, the layer being not more than 25 mm in depth to allow free passage of the drying air there through. The air inlet temperature was 140°C, and its velocity through the grains was about 2.5 m/s. Under these conditions the grains dried to about 11% moisture in 12 minutes.
The drawback of this process is that the rice is soaked, completely cooked and further cooked rice is rinsed and resoaked in water with agitation. This adds to the energy. The cooking and washing processes leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain Since the cooked rice is dried, the percentage of brokens increases.
Reference may be made to US patent US 2,696,156 by CAMPBELL HAROLD A; HOLLIS JR FRANK entitled "Process of preparing quick-cooking rice" dated 1956-12-7. The cracked or fissured rice is passed into a continuous cooker comprising a rotary reel of the pea blancher type, in which the rice is precooked in water at a temperature of about 125°C for 10 minutes. At the end of this time the rice is uniformly and almost completely gelatinized and has moisture content of 72%. The cooked rice is then discharged into a whirlpool type washer supplied with cold water entering at 15°C, and is cooled to about 25°C, in about 2 minutes. This washing also removes any foreign material present in the rice. The cooled washed rice is then flumed on to a wire screen conveyor belt to drain off excess water, being placed on a belt in a 75 mm layer and allowed to drain 4 or 5 minutes. The drained rice is then deposited on a continuous conveyor drier belt passing through a forced draft drier 15 m in length 2.5 m in width. The layer of rice is about 25 mm thick and air is forced upwardly and downwardly through the rice bed at an air inlet temperature of 120°C, and an air velocity of 1 m/s. The rice passes through the drier in 20 minutes and its moisture content is reduced to 11%.
The drawback of this process is that the rice is soaked, completely cooked and further cooked rice is rinsed and resoaked in water with agitation. Also, the cooling water to be brought down to 15°C requires chiller and will add to the cost of the process. This adds to

the energy. The cooking and washing processes leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain Since the cooked rice is dried, the percentage of brokens increases.
Reference may be made to US patent US 2,434,939 by OZAI-DURRANI ATAULLAH K entitled "Quick-cooking rice and process for making same" dated 1948-04-06. Milled rice after cleaning is soaked in water at room temperature for a period of 30-40 minutes, after which the moisture content of the grains is about 25-30% on a wet basis. The rice is then drained and pre-cooked by immersion in excess boiling water, preferably about 1:7 to 1:14 for a period of 8-10 minutes, stirring may be employed during boiling if desired. The rice is then removed from the cook water, immersed in cold water for 1-2 minutes, and then drained. During the cooling and draining, any agglomerated grains can be separated by gentle agitation or combing. The pre-cooked and cooled grains are spread in a layer on a screen and dried by forced air circulation. The layer should not be more than 25 mm in depth so as to allow free passage of the drying air there through and to insure that each grain is subjected to the desired drying conditions. With an air inlet temperature of 140°C and an air velocity through the grains of 1 m/s, the grains are dried to 8-14% moisture in 10 to 15 minutes. Should there be any tendency toward agglomeration during drying, the rice can be stirred or otherwise agitated.
The drawback of this process is that the rice is soaked, completely cooked and further cooked rice is rinsed and resoaked in water with agitation. Also, to generate the cooling water chiller is required and will add to the cost of the process. This adds to the energy. The cooking and washing processes leads to significant losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain Since the cooked rice is dried, the percentage of brokens increases.
The prior art described can be classified as being consisting of any one of the following eight methods singly or in combination.
1. Raw milled white rice is soaked to 30% moisture, cooked in hot water to 50-60 %
moisture, with or without steaming. The product is further boiled or steamed to increase
the moisture content to 60-70 % and then dried carefully to 8-14 % moisture to maintain
a porous structure. A significant modification of the procedure is a dry-heat
pretreatment to fissure the grains prior to cooking and drying.

2. Rice is soaked, boiled, steamed or pressure-cooked to gelatinize the grain thoroughly,
dried at a low temperature to yield fairly dense glassy grains, then expanded or puffed at
a high temperature to produce the desired porous structure.
3. Rice is pregelatinized, rolled or bumped to flatten the grains and dried into a relatively
hard, glassy product.
4. Rice is exposed to a blast of hot air at 65-82°C for 10-30 min., or at 272° C for 18 sec, to
dextrinize, fissure or expand the grains. No boiling or steaming is applied. The product
cooks in less time than untreated grains.
5. Rice is precooked, then frozen, thawed and dried. The procedure combines the
hydration and gelatinization steps plus the critical steps of freezing and thawing before
drying.
6. Rice is pre-conditioned to 20-22% moisture followed by steam cooking in a retort at 3.5-
5.5 bars for 5-10 min. The product is then gun-puffed to atmospheric pressure or into a
vacuum. The optimal terminal condition is at 165CC at 20-25% moisture levels.
7. Rice is cooked in steam and freeze dried to sublime moisture to achieve a porous
structure then frozen in a blast freezer.
8. Chemical treatments or addition of food grade surfactant to reduce clumping.
The prior art is familiar with processes for preparing quick cooking rice products. Most of these processes either suffer from the defect of being somewhat time-consuming or relatively costly or more often the product produced has lost significant amounts of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain These losses result primarily from the soaking and cooking processes used to convert the slower cooking raw rice grains into a product which may be rapidly and easily prepared for the table by the consumer.
The prior art processes of preparing quick cooking rice usually involve a cooking step to soften the grains This cooking step, as well as other steps, in the preparation of these products, such as a water soaking step, require the use of excess amounts of water Such treatment serves to solubilize and extract a goodly portion of the rice starch and valuable flavor, vitamin and mineral components from the rice grain Treatment such as this may result in a loss of as much as 25 % of the original weight of rice employed in the process Obviously, such losses have serious economic disadvantages for upon removal of the soaking and cooking water, the soluble solids extracted from the rice grains are lost to the final product as they cannot be conveniently replaced. While the process of this prior patent

provides a quick cooking rice product which marked a significant step forward in the cereal art, and while we believe that the product obtained was the first successful commercial quick cooking rice product and is even today the foremost commercial quick cooking rice product, it does not overcome the disadvantage described above The process of the patent comprises essentially soaking rice grains in excess water until they are substantially saturated with moisture, and then cooking them in excess boiling water to gelatinize the starch and increase the moisture content even further After a washing with cold water, the gelatinized and moisturized rice is then dried in accordance with the method described in the patent These soaking, cooking and washing steps all contribute to the removal of and loss of valuable starch, vitamins, mineral and flavor components from the grain.
Thus in spite of the need for improvement, the problem until now has gone unsolved. Rice products having faster cooking times have previously been made primarily by methods that incorporate additional steps following the conventional parboiling operation to alter the original shape and/or by chemically changing the structure of the rice. The former including: (a) size reduction, (b) puffing or, (c) extrusion. Examples of the later chemical processes include: (a) enzymatic treatment or (b) rice protein modification. These prior art methods do not provide a rice product having an original natural appearance in size, texture, shape, color, flavor or mouthfeel.
"Size reduction" improves cooking times by reducing the thickness of the individual rice kernels. A reduction in the rice thickness reduces the cooking time since the rice kernel becomes fully hydrated quicker. Although the methods relying on "size reduction" result in a rice product having reduced cooking times, the product has an unnatural appearance and modified mouthfeel as a result of the altered shape and size. Moreover, these methods require an addition process steps and pieces of machinery (cold-rolling or compression apparatus) to effect the size reduction. The methods involving the reduction of the kernel thickness, for example, require the separate step of compressing the kernels
Instead, molecular or internal structural modification of the chemical components of the rice grain is accomplished by the use of chemicals and heat treatment to facilitate penetration of water into the rice grains during preparation of the quick cooking rice and also during its final cooking to palatable condition. This chemical alteration of the rice can result in a foreign flavor or color in the cooked rice product.
The above-described methods do not provide a quick cooking parboiled rice product having a natural appearance, flavor and/or mouth feel. The natural appearance is important

because, as widely accepted in culinary arts, the first impression of a food is generally visual. That is, the willingness of a person to eat a particular food depends largely on preconceptions as to appealing color and other visual cues. Appearance is an influential quality attribute pre-supposed by people to be an indicator of deteriorative changes undergone by food. Aroma and flavor can also be influential upon smelling and tasting.
Thus, an irregular appearance increases the likelihood that a food will be rejected, and this phenomenon jeopardizes the acceptability of rice amongst the majority of rice eating cultures around the world. This is so to an even greater extent if the rice has a foreign flavor as a result of additives used to modify the cooking characteristics of the rice (i.e., enzymes or chemical reagents). It is desired that rice appearance be uniform and natural and that rice flavor be near bland and subtle.
The above described methods are also disadvantageous since each requires at least one additional step and/or apparatus for the rice processing. In addition to the economic disadvantages inherent to the loss of the components in the rice grains, the losses in nutritional and aesthetic values are also very important In many parts of the world rice plays an important if not staple role in the human diet In such cases it is critical that the nutritional, flavor and aesthetic values remain substantially intact for if they are not available in the rice, the remainder of the diet may not compensate for their absence.
There is active interest in developing improved processes for quick cooking rice products with increased yields, reduced processing costs, shortened processing times and to improved appearance and convenience.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide an improved process for the production of quick cooking rice.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce number of processing steps and the processing time to facilitate increased production, which in turn reduces the cost of the product.
Still another object of the present invention is to have a reconstitution time of less than 5 minutes to be called as quick cooking.
Yet another object of the present invention is to eliminate soaking or complete cooking to reduce the losses of starch and other important nutritional and flavor components originally present in the rice grain.

Yet another object of the present invention is to reduce the percentage of brokens in the final product due to processing.
Yet another object of the present invention is to eliminate any chemical treatment to modify the structure of the rice.
Accordingly, an improved process for the production of quick cooking rice comprising;
a) steaming the rice for 8-10 minutes to obtain rice having a moisture content of
20 - 22 % w.b,
b) drying the steamed rice for a period of 5-8 minutes at a temperature ranging
from 120 to 130 °C to a final moisture content of 8-10 % to obtain quick
cooking rice.
In an embodiment of the process the rice is milled rice, parboiled rice or unpolished (brown) rice.
In an another embodiment of the process the drying of the steamed rice is carried out preferably in infrared dryer.
In an another embodiment of the process the process is free of chemicals.
In an another embodiment of the process the rehydration quality of quick cooking rice is fluffy and uniform in texture with no hard core, is carried out by adding a measured amount of boiling water to the product and allowing the rice to stand for 5-8 minutes or simmering the product in boiling water for about 4- 5 minutes.
In yet an another embodiment of the process the quick cooking rice has an excellent reconstituting property.
In yet an another embodiment of the process the percentage reduction in cooking time for the rice selected from different varieties is given below:

Rice variety % reduction in cooking time
Sona Masuri 76-80
Bangara Therulu 78-80
Parboiled 47-50
Unpolished 39-40

In yet an another embodiment of the process the process is devoid of pretreatment like compressing, gun puffing or even soaking or washing.
Infrared radiation is part of an electromagnetic radiation having wavelength in the range of 0.78 - 1000>m. When the substance is exposed to infrared radiation, the radiation first impinges on the surface of the material and then penetrates it. The incident radiation causes the change in the vibrational state of the atoms and molecules, which generates heat energy within the material.
When steamed rice having moisture content of 20-22% is exposed to near infrared radiation (NIR, wavelength 1.1-1.3 urn), it generates intense heat (at a much higher rate compared to conductive/convective heating) at the surface as well as in the internal layers. This simultaneous heating of surface and internal layers drives the moisture out rapidly, resulting in quick and uniform drying of the rice. The rapid removal of the moisture also induces the desirable fluffy structure to the rice, which gives the good reconstitution property.
Novelties of the invention are:
a. The process does not require any pre-treatment step.
b. The process does not use any chemicals or additives.
c. The cooked rice prepared by the process compares well with the standard market
product available.
d. The process involves simple steps like steaming and drying making the process cheap.
e. The overall process takes only 15 minutes facilitating higher production with smaller
infrastructure.
f. The product suits Indian palate and can replace conventional cooking of rice in Indian
homes.
g. The product can be incorporated in any standard Indian recipe for production of ready to
eat foods.
The following examples are given by way of illustrations of the present invention and therefore should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention. The process is explained below with a particular reference to milled rice processing

Example 1
About 250 g of graded Sona Masuri variety of rice was steamed using a perforated basket kept over steam generator for 10 minutes. The steamed rice was spread thinly on perforated tray and dried in the infrared dryer at 125°C for 5 minutes. About 100 g of the dried rice was rehydrated with 1: 5 of boiling water and the mixture was simmered at low flame for 5 minutes. At the end of the five minutes, the rice had absorbed all the water and the rice was spread on a plate and allowed to cool. The rice grains were tested for complete cooking by pressing cooked grains between two glass slides and checked for any hard core. There was no hard core and the grains were cooked completely. The cooked rice was visually observed for fluffiness, individual grains and excess starch particles. The grains were well swelled with no stickiness and no excess starch particles with very minimum brokens. The rice was tested for microbiat safety and was found to be safe for consumption.
Example 2
About 250 g of graded Bangara Therulu variety of rice was steamed using a perforated basket kept over steam generator for 10 minutes. The steamed rice was spread thinly on perforated tray and dried in the infrared dryer at 125°C for 5 minutes. About 100 g of the dried rice was rehydrated with 1: 5 of boiling water and the mixture was simmered at low flame for 5 minutes. At the end of the five minutes, the rice had absorbed all the water and the rice was spread on a plate and allowed to cool. The rice grains were tested for complete cooking by pressing cooked grains between two glass slides and checked for any hard core. There was no hard core and the grains were cooked completely. The cooked rice was visually observed for fluffiness, individual grains and excess starch particles. The grains were well swelled with no stickiness and no excess starch particles with very minimum brokens.
Example 3
About 500 g of graded Sona Masuri variety of rice was steamed using a perforated basket kept over steam generator for 10 minutes. The steamed rice was spread thinly on perforated tray and dried in the infrared dryer at 125°C for 5 minutes. About 100 g of the dried rice was rehydrated with 1: 5 of boiling water and the mixture was simmered at low flame for 5 minutes. At the end of the five minutes, the rice had absorbed all the water and the rice was spread on a plate and allowed to cool. The rice grains were tested for complete cooking by pressing cooked grains between two glass slides and checked for any hard core. There was no hard core and the grains were cooked completely. The cooked rice was

visually observed for fluffiness, individual grains and excess starch particles. The grains were well swelled with no stickiness and no excess starch particles with very minimum brokens.
Example 4
About 500 g of graded Bangara Therulu variety of rice was steamed using a perforated basket kept over steam generator for 10 minutes. The steamed rice was spread thinly on perforated tray and dried in the infrared dryer at 125°C for 5 minutes. About 100 g of the dried rice was rehydrated with 1: 5 of boiling water and the mixture was simmered at low flame for 5 minutes. At the end of the five minutes, the rice had absorbed all the water and the rice was spread on a plate and allowed to cool. The rice grains were tested for complete cooking by pressing cooked grains between two glass slides and checked for any hard core. There was no hard core and the grains were cooked completely. The cooked rice was visually observed for fluffiness, individual grains and excess starch particles. The grains were well swelled with no stickiness and no excess starch particles with very minimum brokens.
Example 5
About 250 g of graded commercial variety parboiled rice was steamed using a perforated basket kept over steam generator for 10 minutes. The steamed rice was spread thinly on perforated tray and dried in the infrared dryer at 125°C for 5 minutes. About 100 g of the dried rice was rehydrated with 1: 5 of boiling water and the mixture was simmered at low flame for 18 minutes. At the end of the eighteen minutes, the rice had absorbed all the water and the rice was spread on a plate and allowed to cool. The rice grains were tested for complete cooking by pressing cooked grains between two glass slides and checked for any hard core. There was no hard core and the grains were cooked completely. The cooked rice was visually observed for fluffiness, individual grains and excess starch particles. The grains were well swelled with no stickiness and no excess starch particles with very minimum brokens.
Example 6
About 250 g of graded commercial variety unpolished (brown) rice was steamed using a perforated basket kept over steam generator for 10 minutes. The steamed rice was spread thinly on perforated tray and dried in the infrared dryer at 125°C for 5 minutes. About 100 g of the dried rice was rehydrated with 1: 5 of boiling water and the mixture was simmered at low flame for 20 minutes. At the end of the twenty minutes, the rice had absorbed all the water and the rice was spread on a plate and allowed to cool. The rice

grains were tested for complete cooking by pressing cooked grains between two glass slides and checked for any hard core. There was no hard core and the grains were cooked completely. The cooked rice was visually observed for fluffiness, individual grains and excess starch particles. The grains were well swelled with no stickiness and no excess starch particles with very minimum brokens.
The rehydration* time (minutes) of different rice variety with various pretreatments are indicated in Table 1

Rice variety Un processed Only IR treatment Steamed and IR treatment (QCR) % reduction in cooking time
Sona Masuri 22 - 25 7-9 4-5 80
Bangara Therulu 22-25 7-9 4-5 80
Parboiled 30-32 25-28 15-18 50
Unpolished 30-32 25-28 18-20 40
* Rice added to boiling water and simmered at low heat, time noted from the rice added to boiling water