A comparative study on the physicochemical, cooking and textural properties of fortified rice kernels prepared from raw and parboiled rice

Summary Fortified rice kernels (FRK) are extruded rice‐shaped kernels manufactured by blending broken rice flour and vitamin–mineral premix. In this study, four parboiled and three raw rice with intermediate amylose content (20–24%) were processed to manufacture FRK. The system parameters (torque and die pressure), physicochemical properties (length, lightness, water absorption index and water solubility index), cooking properties (cooking time, solid loss, elongation) and textural properties of FRK were analysed and correlated using the Pearson correlation coefficient. The torque and die pressure were 16.76–22.76 Nm and 92.56–136.41 bar, respectively. Compared to raw rice, the parboiled rice showed the highest torque, die pressure and axial expansion in uncooked FRK while longer cooking times, higher elongation ratio and hardness; lesser water absorption ratio and solid loss in cooked FRK. The raw rice FRK showed higher lightness. There was a significant difference between all FRK for water absorption index (1.74–2.52) and water solubility index (2.06–3.53%).