GRAIN PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND HYDRATION BEHAVIOR OF NON-PARBOILED MILLED RICE USED IN NIGERIAN TRADITIONAL CUISINE

Non parboiled milled rice is a major ingredient in the preparation of diverse traditional cuisines especially in northern Nigeria. Physical characteristics of the milled and its hydration behavior are considered as factors in selection for use. In this study, differential in physical, milling, hydration characteristics and association among the quality indices of non-parboiled milled rice used in Nigerian traditional cuisine were obtained from Yobe State, Nigeria and studied using Standard Evaluation System (SES) for Rice. Results indicated significant variation (p<0.05) among the samples in terms of grain length ranging from 5.36 to 6.29 mm, while non-significant difference (p>0.05) was observed for width and length/width ratio. Thousand grain weight ranged from 18.49 to 23.56 g with a mean value of 20.52 g. Mean grain volume and bulk density were 11.22 cm3 and 0.80 g/cm3 respectively, while head rice, broken and chalkiness indices ranged from 16.56-58.07%, 60.84-71.99% and 29.21-57.56% respectively. Generally, correlation among the grain quality indices varied greatly from significant (p<0.05) to non-significant (p>0.05) and from positive to negative, hence the need to consider these relationships when processing the rice samples by soaking or cooking while preparing local cuisine such as Tuwon shinkafa and Kunun shinkafa.