A Better Understanding of Factors That Affect the Hardness and Stickiness of Long‐Grain Rice

ABSTRACT Eight U.S. long‐grain rice cultivars were studied for chemical compositions, physicochemical properties, and leaching characteristics in relation to hardness and stickiness of rice flour paste and cooked rice. There were differences in the chemical composition of rice kernels among the eight rice cultivars, including crude protein (6.6–9.3%), crude fat (0.18–0.51%), and apparent amylose content by iodine colorimetry (19.6–27.0%). Differences were also observed in gelatinization temperatures and enthalpies, pasting temperatures and viscosities, leached/insoluble amylose, soluble solids, and hardness and stickiness of rice flour pastes and cooked rice kernels. The quantity and molecular size distribution of the leached starch molecules varied greatly among the samples. Protein and crude lipid contents negatively correlated with hardness of rice flour paste and cooked rice, but positively correlated with stickiness. Apparent amylose content correlated with gel properties but not cooked rice texture, whereas the ratio of A and short B chains to long B chains of amylopectin correlated significantly with cooked rice texture.