Effects of distribution, structure and interactions of starch, protein and cell walls on textural formation of cooked rice: A review

The constitution and forms of rice determine its processing and cooking properties and further control the cooked rice quality. As the two main components, starch and protein content correlations and their characteristics have been extensively explored. However, rice is mainly consumed as polished kernels, components distribution, cytoplasmic matrix, and cell walls work together, and the properties of extracted components or flour are difficult to reflect the quality of cooked rice accurately. Thus, this review summarizes the multi-scale structure changes of main components during real rice cooking conditions. The dynamic thermal changes and leaching behaviors in rice kernels are compared with pure starch or rice flour. The in situ changes and interactions of starch granules, protein bodies, and cell walls during cooking are reviewed. Based on this, different textural evaluation methods are compared, and the advantages and disadvantages are pointed out. The oral chewing perception and bionic chewing simulation for textual evaluation have gradually become hot. Both rice quality controllers and eating quality evaluators attempt to establish an accurate quality evaluation system with the increased demand for high-quality rice.