Textural and morphological changes of Jasmine rice under various elevated cooking conditions

The effects of cooking at elevated temperatures (80, 100, 120 and 140 °C) and pressure levels (0, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 MPa) on the textural and morphological properties of cooked Jasmine rice were investigated. The developed high pressure cooker was utilized to process Jasmine rice in excess water under isothermal conditions. Rice cooking at higher temperature produced softer and stickier grain texture as well as more off-white colour. Using scanning electron microscopy technique, the microstructure revealed that the soft texture at high cooking temperature corresponded well to the increase of pore size and thickness of the sponge-like texture of inner layer endosperm. As the temperature increased, the outer layer of cooked rice became less porous. Boiling significantly altered the external appearance (namely colour and exterior integrity) and texture of cooked rice while cooking pressure had a little or no effect.