Rice Milling and Parboiling

Lesson 2

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 TYPES of RICE
1. Long Grain
• Long and slender, these grains are 4 to 5 times as long as they are
wide.
• Cooked grains remain separate and fluffy.
• The perfect choice for side dish, main dish or salad recipes.
2. Medium Grain
• Plump, but not round.
• When cooked, the grains are moister and more tender than long grain
rice.
• Ideal for dessert, casserole, bread and stir-fry recipes.
3. Short Grain
• Almost round, the cooked grains tend to cling together when cooked.
• Great for stir-fry recipes and puddings.

Forms of Rice
1. Brown Rice
• Rice from which only the hull as been removed.
• When cooked, it has a slightly chewy texture and nut-like flavor.
• This is a natural source of bran.
• It cooks in approximately 40-45 minutes.
2. Parboiled Rice
• Unmilled rice is soaked, steamed and dried before milling.
• Nutrients stay within the grain and surface starch is reduced, producing a
cooked rice that is somewhat more firm in texture and very separate when
cooked.
• It cooks perfectly in approximately 20 minutes.
3. Regular-milled White Rice
• This rice has been completely milled and polished, removing the bran layer.
Vitamins and minerals are added for enrichment.
• It takes about 15 minutes to cook.
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 Rice Quality indicators

1. Grain Quality Indicators

a. Grain dimension – size and shape
• There exist enormous variation in the size and shape of the grins as
they are conditioned by large number of genes.

• Grain dimension is expressed as length, breadth and thickness,

whereas shape is expressed as the ratio between the length and
breadth.

• These parameters are the major bases for the characterization of rice
varieties.

• Short grain varieties vary in their length from 3 -6 mm (length-to-

breadth ratio, 2.5-3.0) whereas long grain varieties have a length of
6mm and above (length-to-breadth ratio, more than 3.0).
 b. Grain colour and translucency
• White and translucent rice is preferred by people
in most parts of the world.
• Colour of the duhusked, unpolished rice is usually
pale white, creamy white, brown or red.
• On polishing, the kernel becomes white,
translucent or opaque according to the nature of
the pericarp and endosperm colour of the brown
rice.

2. Cooking/eating quality indicators

• Cooking and processing characteristics of the rice are the factors of
primary importance in rice eating areas of the world.

• Milling, cooking and processing qualities are the fundamental

components of quality that determine and establish economic value of
rice.

• Upon cooking, long grain rice is dry and fluffy with individual grains,
whereas medium and short grain types are moist and chewy with
grains that tend to stick or clump together.

• Major cooking quality parameters are discussed in next slides:

 a. Amylose content
• Amylose content is considered as the single most important characteristics for
predicting rice cooking and processing behavior.
• In rice it varies roughly from 15-37%.
• A high amylose content is usually associated with non-sticky cooking characteristics
and vice-versa.
• Glutinous or waxy rice, which has no or very little amylose content, becomes very
sticky on cooking.

b. Gelatinization temperature
• The gelatinization temperature of starch is the range of temperature within which the
starch starts to swell irreversibly in hot water with a simultaneous loss of crystalinity,
and usually varies from 56° to 79°C.
• It is correlated with the extent of disintegration of milled rice in a dilute alkali solution
(1.7-2.0% KOH) measured in terms of alkali spread value.
• Gelatinization temperature is also positively correlated with the cooking time but not
with the texture of cooked grains.

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c. Gel consistency
• The gel consistency test is the index of cooked rice
hardness among high amylose rice.
• Rice is classified on the basis of gel length as soft, medium
and hard.
• Soft to medium gel consistency is preferred to hard gel
consistency.
• Among high amylose rice, intermediate gelatinization
temperature and soft gel consistency are preferred by
consumers over low gelatinization temperature and hard gel
consistency.
 3. Milling quality
• Milling quality means the degree to which the endosperm remains intact
at the end of milling.
• Milling quality, indicated by total milling yield or head rice (milled rice
kernels that are three quarters or more of the endosperm length) yield, is
expressed as a percentage of rough rice.
• Breakage during milling process is not desirable.

4. Nutritional quality
• Brown rice contains more nutrients (minerals and vitamins) than milled
rice.
• However, status of nutrients is dependent on genetic variability of rice
throughout the world.

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5. Specific quality designations regarding cleanliness, soundness and

purity
Special grades are provided for the specific qualities or conditions of rice that
affect marketability.
These special grades:
• Rough rice: Parboiled rough rice, Smutty rough rice, Weevily rough rice
• Brown rice: Parboiled brown rice and Smutty brown rice for processing
• Milled rice: Parboiled milled rice, Undermilled milled rice

In USA rice grade designation follows this order: (1) the letter US (2) no. of grade
(3) class (4) applicable special grade (5) milling yield
• e.g. U.S. No. 3, long grain rough rice, parboiled, milling yield 50 – 70%.
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 A rice milling system can be a simple one or two step process, or a multi
stage process.
• One step milling - husk and bran removal are done in one pass
• Two step process - removing husk and removing bran are done
separately
• Multistage milling - can be done in the village or local consumption
or commercially for marketing rice; rice undergoes a number of
different processing steps, such as:
– Pre-cleaning
– Dehusking or dehulling
– Paddy separation
– Whitening or polishing
– Grading and separation of white rice
– Mixing
– Mist polishing
– Weighing of rice

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 The modern milling process
1. Pre-cleaning
• When paddy comes into the mill, it contains foreign materials such as straw,
weed seeds, soil, and other inert materials.
• If these are not removed before hulling, the efficiency of the huller and
milling recovery will be reduced.
• The capacity of the paddy pre-cleaner is normally 1.5 times the milling
capacity.
• The paddy is first passed over a screen to remove larger particles, straws
and string.
• After that it is passed through second screen, which is having smaller
perforations than first screen, to remove weed seeds and sand.
• The paddy then flows in the form of a thin layer into a channel where an air
current removes dead grains and other lighter impurities.
• At the last, paddy are passed through magnetic separator to remove metal
particles.

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2. Removing the husk (dehusking or dehulling)

• Brown rice is produced by removing the husk from
rough paddy rice.
• The husk is removed by friction as the paddy grains
pass between two abrasive surfaces that move at
different speeds.
• After dehusking, the husk is removed by suction and
transported to a storage dump outside the mill.
• Husk accounts for 20% of the paddy weight and an
efficient husker should remove 90% of the husk in a
single pass.
• The rice with the hull removed is commonly known
as “brown rice”/“rough rice”.
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3. Paddy separation
• The paddy separator separates unhusked paddy rice from brown rice.
• The amount of paddy present depends on the efficiency of the husker and
should not be more than 10%.
• Paddy separators work by making use of the differences in specific gravity,
buoyancy, and size between paddy and brown rice.

4. Whitening or polishing
• White rice is produced by removing the bran layer and the germ from the
paddy.
• The bran layer is removed from the kernel through either abrasive or friction
polishers.
• The amount of bran removed is normally between 8 and 10% of the total
paddy weight.
• To reduce the number of broken grains during the whitening process, rice is
normally passed through two to four whitening machines connected in series.
 • Gradual removal of germ and bran from the rough rice is known as
scouring/pearling/whitening process.

• The hulled rice is passed through a series of “pearling cones”.

• In pearling cones rice passes through the narrow annular space left between an
inverted cone coated with abrasive revolving in a conical casing made of steel
wire cloth.

• As it passes down, the bran is pushed through the interstices of the wire cloth.

• By-product of scouring process is known as “rice-bran” which is used as animal

feed.

• It is also used to extract rice bran oil.

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 5. Separation of white rice
• After polishing, white rice is separated into head rice, large and small broken
rice, and “brewers” by an oscillating screen sifter.
• Head rice is normally classified as kernels that are 75−80% or more of a whole
kernel.
• To attain a higher degree of precision for grading and separation a length or
indent grader is used.

6. Rice mixing
• A good rice mill will produce 50−60% head rice (whole kernels), 5−10% large
broken and 10−15% small broken kernels.
• Depending on country standards, rice grades in the market will contain from
5−25% broken kernels.
• If rice mixing is to be done properly, then a volumetric mixer is necessary.

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7. Mist polishing
• Mixing a fine mist of water with the dust retained on the whitened rice
improves the luster of rice (polishes) without significantly reducing
milling yield.
• A friction type of whitening machine, which delivers a fine mist of water
during the final whitening process, is used for “final” polishing before
sale.

8. Rice weighing
• Rice is normally sold in 50 kg sacks which must be accurately weighed
and labeled.
• While most rice mills use a manual mechanical weighing system, very
accurate, and fast electronic systems are also available.
 Guidelines for good milling
1. Mill at the right moisture content (MC)
-A moisture content of 14% MC is ideal for milling.
If the MC is too low, high grain breakage will occur resulting in low head rice
recovery.
-Broken grain has only half the market value of head rice.
-Use a moisture meter to determine the moisture content. Visual methods are
not accurate enough.

2. Pre-clean paddy before husking

-Use of paddy without impurities will ensure a cleaner and higher quality end
product.

3. Do not mix varieties prior to milling

-Different varieties of paddy have different milling characteristics that require
individual mill settings.
-Mixing varieties will generally lead to lower quality of milled rice.

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4. Use rubber roll technology for husking

• Rubber roll huskers produce the best quality.
• Engleberg-type or "steel" hullers are no longer acceptable in the commercial
rice milling sector, as they lead to low milling recovery and high grain
breakage.

5. Use a paddy separator

• Separate all paddy from the brown rice before whitening.
• Paddy separation after husking will lead to better quality milled rice, and
reduce overall wear and tear on the rice mill.

6. Consider two-stage whitening

• Having at least two stages in the whitening process (and a separate polisher)
will reduce overheating of the grain and will allow the operator to set individual
machine settings for each step.
• This will ensure higher milling and head rice recovery.
 7. Grade the milled rice
• Installl a screen sifter to remove small brokens and chips from the
polished rice.
• Rice with a large number of small brokens (or brewer’s rice) has a
lower market value.
• The small brokens can be utilized to produce rice flour.

8. Monitor and replace spare parts regularly

• Turning or replacing rubber rolls, refacing stones, and replacing
worn screens regularly will keep milled rice quality high at all times.

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Parboiling of Rice
 • Parboiling means precooking of rice within the husk without
disturbing its size and shape.
• A hydrothermal treatment resulting partial cooking
(gelatinization of starch) of paddy (rough rice).
• In this technique paddy is soaked in excess water and later
on cooked in its husk, the objective being pre-gelatinizing
the starch.
• Any hairline cracks are sealed due to homogeneous mass
of gelatinized starch and thus prevent breakage during
milling.
• The paddy is then drained and dried.

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 Advantages

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Disadvantages

1. It has a bad smell due to prolonged soaking.

2. It has a dark colour due to heat treatment.
3. It requires prolonged cooking time and more fuel.
4. Since the oil content is more, the polisher may got choked.
5. The heat treatment may destroy antioxidants. Hence, rancidity may
develop.
6. Due to the high moisture content, mycotoxins may be formed.
7. Drying cost is added to the total processing cost, extra capital investment.
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Methods of parboiling
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 D. PPRC parboiling process (Paddy Processing Research Centre,
Thanjavur)
• It is also known as chromate soaking process.
• Chromate at the rate of 50g/100 kg paddy is added to the soaking
water which stops germ action and eliminates bad smell.
• A high temperature short time process was also developed at the
PPRC.
• Steeped paddy is parboiled and dried concurrently by applying high
temperature for a short time.
• Steeped paddy is fed into sand roaster.
• The paddy gets completely and uniformly parboiled and its subsequent
cooking time is less.

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