EFFECT OF PARBOILING AND COOKING PROCESSES ON THE QUALITY OF NIGERIAN MILLED RICE

This study aimed at identifying factors affecting the cooking quality of rice preferred by Nigerians and consequently to improve the locally produced rice to the taste of Nigerians. A total of 23 rice varieties were acquired from experimental fields of National Cereal Research Institute (NCRI), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan and Badegi Rice Breeding Centre in Bida. Three (3kg) of each sample was parboiled, dried and milled. Cooking tests were done on both parboiled and unparboiled samples to determine water up-take, volume of expansion, gell consistency and solid residue ratio. Parboiled samples took a longer time to cook, had lower water absorption and decreased percentage solid residue. Texture of parboiled cooked rice was fluffy and less moist, cooked separate when compared to unparboiled rice samples