The relationship between translucency of rice grain and gelatinization of starch in the grain during cooking.

The soaked and nonsoaked rice grains were cooked by the excess water method and the steamer method, and subjected to Ranghino's test, X-ray diffraction, and microscopic observation. The starch granules in the nonsoaked rice were gelatinized at the same time as the grains became translucent during cooking. However, when the grains of medium amylose varieties and waxy rice were presoaked, the starch granules were not fully gelatinized in the translucent grains cooked for Ranghino's cooking time. The gelatinization of starch granules proceeded faster in the soaked rice and by the excess water method than that in the nonsoaked rice and by the steamer method. The cooking time and gelatinization time correlated negatively with the water content after soaking, and positively with the amylose content in the rice grains. The japonica rices were gelatinized fully in less than 20 min when the amount of water added for cooking was adequate.