Puffed Dried Rice Sinking Property and Water Absorption Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing instant rice products, particularly those made by drying gelatinized rice, suffer from poor reconstitutability, irregular grain shape, and require complex cooking processes, leading to potential cooking failures and non-uniform texture.
Innovation Solution
A method for producing puffed dried rice by adjusting the moisture content of gelatinized rice, pressing, flattening, and puffing at high temperatures, resulting in rice that sinks in water, allowing for accurate water measurement and simplified cooking by direct water addition or microwave heating.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If gelatinized rice is directly dried at high temperature to puff its tissue, then the rice achieves a puffed state with improved reconstitutability, but the bulk specific gravity becomes too low causing the rice to float in water
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-drying the gelatinized rice at 100°C or lower before the high-temperature puffing step. This preliminary drying adjusts the moisture content to an optimal level that enables the rice to puff properly at high temperature while maintaining sufficient bulk specific gravity to sink in water, thus preventing both floating and hard core formation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs parameter changes by carefully controlling the moisture content of gelatinized rice through pre-drying at specific temperature ranges (100°C or lower) before puffing. This parameter adjustment ensures that the rice achieves the right balance between puffing expansion and maintaining bulk specific gravity above water density, resolving the contradiction between reconstitutability and sinking property
2Reliability
If the amount of water poured is increased to ensure sufficient absorption, then rice reconstitution is improved, but the rice becomes pasty if too much water is added
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies feedback by using the sinking property of properly processed rice as an indicator to determine the correct water amount. Since the rice sinks when it has appropriate bulk specific gravity, users can visually confirm that the rice will absorb the correct amount of water without becoming pasty, providing natural feedback for accurate water measurement
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes visual observation of water level and rice position (analogous to color/opacity changes) as an indicator system. When rice sinks to the bottom, it provides visual feedback that the water amount is appropriate, eliminating the need for complex measurements and preventing both under-watering (hard core) and over-watering (pasty texture)
3Measurement precision
If dried rice is separately packed in an attached bag, then accurate water amount can be controlled, but the cooking process becomes complex requiring multiple steps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies merging by combining the rice and cooking water into a single container without separate packaging. The rice is directly placed in the container with the required amount of water, eliminating the need to separate the rice in a bag and then combine it with water, thus simplifying the cooking process while maintaining accurate water control
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the unnecessary intermediate step of separate bag packaging from the cooking process. By removing the bagging step entirely and allowing direct contact between rice and water in the container, the process is simplified from multiple steps (take out bag, pour water, add rice) to a single step (add water to rice in container)
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The puffed dried rice ensures accurate water absorption, reduces cooking failures, and achieves a texture comparable to cooked rice, with improved reconstitutability and appearance, while simplifying the cooking process.
Implementation Method 1
the gelatinized rice is dried at a high temperature to puff its tissue
Implementation Method 2
the rice grains are previously subjected to pressing (pressing and flattening) before puffed and dried with high-temperature hot air
Implementation Method 3
The puffed dried rice ensures accurate water absorption
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a method of manufacturing puffed rice for an instant food product, the method comprising: adjusting the moisture content of boiled or steamed rice by primary drying, wherein the primary drying is performed by ventilation at 100 °C or lower until the boiled or steamed rice is dried to a moisture content of 20 mass % to 30%; subjecting the rice to pressing and flattening; adjusting the moisture content of the pressed and flattened rice by secondary drying, wherein the secondary drying is performed by ventilation at 100 °C or lower until the rice is dried to a moisture content of 10 mass % to 25 mass %; and puffing and drying the rice at an airflow having an air velocity of 40 m/s or more at a temperature of 130 °C to 160 °C until the rice has a bulk specific gravity of 0.55 g.mL or more.