METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING OF RICE

Abstract: A method of continuously processing rice to provide a quick-cooking rice comprises the steps of fluidising the rice by recirculation of a gaseous fluid comprising saturated steam at 100 DEG C during a first and major part of a cooking time period; injecting saturated make-up steam at 100 DEG C into the recirculating gaseous fluid in order to compensate condensed steam; spraying water of a temperature close to 100 DEG C upon the fluidised rice at most during the first and major part of the cooking time period and in a varying amount effective for gelatinizing all starch of the fluidised rice; and drying the rice mainly in fluidised state in a successive second zone by dry air.

Description: METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING OF RICE The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for continuously processing rice to provide a quick-cooking rice. Untreated rice, e.g. brown and white rice, and va- rious types of parboiled rice may require cooking for at least twenty minutes to render it soft and palatable. In order to reduce this cooking time, it is known to heat treat the rice in advance according to a wet or a dry processing scheme. In the dry processing scheme, the rice grains are treated at such temperature that small cracks extending inwardly towards the centre of the rice grains, are for¬ med. As a result, the heat treated rice grains when coo¬ ked or immersed in boiling water will absorb water throughout their volume and are palatable in a much shorter period than that required to cook rice grains which are not processed in advance. In the wet processing scheme, the rice grains are normally heated in the presence of water and sub- sequently dried. However, this scheme involves a loss of valuable starch and thus produces a waste water pollu¬ tion problem. U.S. Patent No. 4,473,593 discloses a process for preparing quick-cooking rice by fluidising the rice using a steam atmosphere as the fluidising medium until the moisture content of the rice is raised to a first predetermined level, and subsequently cooling and drying the rice to a second predetermined moisture level, pre¬ ferably also in a fluidised bed. The process according to U.S. Patent No. 4,473,593 enables minimizing excess moisture in the rice grains and consequently mitigating the pollution problem. How¬ ever, it is very difficult to fluidise the grains with saturated steam unless very high air velocities are used. A main problem is that of attaining a proper moisture on the rice grains and this is hardly possible only by pretreating the rice grains with steam. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of processing rice continuously in a fluidised bed, which method substantially overcomes the difficulty of fluidising the rice. It is also an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for realizing said method. It is a further object of the present invention to substantially eliminate the production of dissolved starch containing waste water. According to the present invention the method of continuously processing rice to provide a quick-cooking rice, comprises the steps of continuously conveying the rice along a path through a series of successive zones of the path; fluidising the rice in a first one of said zones along the path by recirculation of a gaseous fluid comprising primary saturated steam at about 100°C during a cooking time period of conveyance of the rice through the first one of said zones,- injecting saturated make-up steam at about 100°C into the recirculating gaseous fluid in order to replace condensed steam,- spraying wa¬ ter of a temperature of about 100°C upon the fluidised rice at a variable application rate over at least a ma- jor part of the first one of said zones and in an amount effective for gelatinizing all starch of the fluidised rice while in the first zone; and drying the rice mainly in fluidised state in a successive second zone by dry air. According to the invention the apparatus for conti¬ nuously processing rice to provide a quick-cooking rice, comprises conveyor means for continuously conveying the rice along a path, the path including a series of suc- cessive zones of the path; updraft fan means for flui¬ dising the rice in a first one of said zones along the path by recirculating a gaseous fluid comprising primary saturated steam at about 100°C during a cooking time pe¬ riod of conveyance of the rice through the first one of said zones; injection means for injecting saturated make-up steam at about 100°C into the recirculating ga¬ seous fluid in order to replace condensed primary steam; water-spray means for spraying water of a temperature of about 100°C upon the fluidised rice at a variable appli- cation rate over at least a major part of the first one of said zones and in an amount effective for gelatini¬ zing all starch of the fluidised rice while in the first one of said zones; and drying means for drying the rice mainly in a fluidised state by dry air. By spraying water of a temperature close to 100°C, and at least above 90°C, upon the rice, the fluidisation of the rice is facilitated. Also, in comparison to using steam only, the spraying with water will shorten the cooking time period, within which all starch of the rice should be gelatinized. It should be noted that the water was found necessary for the complete geletinizing of the rice to occur. According to the invention the water absorption of the rice may be improved by slightly delaying the spray- ing of water upon the rice at the outset of the cooking time period. Thus, the rice is steamed only for a short time, i.e. over a short length in the first zone, be¬ fore cooking starts. An embodiment of the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying dra¬ wings, in which: FIG. 1 is a flowchart of the method according to the present invention,- FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an apparatus for performing the method according to the present in¬ vention; FIG. 3 is a schematical longitudinal sectional view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 . Referring to FIG. 1, the method according to the present invention comprises the following steps: a) Optionally, the rice is heat treated prior to the following cooking step. b) A first zone of a fluidised bed is provided by means of a gaseous fluid comprising or formed by satura- ted steam, i.e. air at 100°C and having a moisture con¬ tent of 100%, that is recirculated in a conventional fluidising apparatus. The steam must be saturated so as not to dry the rice which is conveyed through the first zone continuously. c) Water having a temperature close to 100°C, at least above 90°C and typically about 95°C, is sprayed upon the rice in the first zone of the fluidised bed, thereby facilitating the fluidisation of the rice and also accelerating the gelatinizing of the starch of the rice. d) In order to avoid excess of water or moisture in the fluidised bed when the rice is cooked, i.e. when the moisture content of the rice is about 63-73%, preferably 70%, and all the starch of the rice is gelatinized, the spraying of water should be closed towards the end of the first zone. e) Optionally, the rice is predried and/or cooled by using ambient air at a temperature well below 100°C, e.g. 20-75°C, in an area between the first zone and the following zone. f) Finally, dry air is blown through the rice which mainly is in a fluidised state, in a following zone of the fluidised bed. The air may have a temperature above 100°C, preferably 120-160°C. The drying is finished when the moisture content of the rice is lowered to a prede¬ termined level, preferably 10-12%. Rice is a very sticky product for certain combina¬ tions of moisture and temperature, which makes it diffi- cult to fluidise rice and keep it fluidised during pro¬ cessing. By spraying water upon the rice during the coo¬ king time period and thereby increase the surface moisture of the rice, it was found possible to substan¬ tially facilitate the fluidising of the rice and also provide a continuous process. Also, the addition of wa¬ ter is needed for the rice to be fully cooked. Using the right total amount of water is important but calculating the total amount of water necessary is not very difficult. Too much water results in leakage of starch. On the other hand, if too little water is used, all the starch will not gelatinize such that there will be hard centres left in the rice grains. However, the distribution in time of the water needed may be varied so as to obtain the best possible fluidising conditions. That is, the water may be applied at application rates that differ or vary over a zone through which the rice is conveyed (or at least over a major part of one of the zones) , such that as the rice travels over its convey- ance path, the amount of water sprayed onto any one por¬ tion of the rice varies with time. A substantial part of such calculated and effective amount of water is normally required immediately after the start of the spraying of water. Even so, the spray- ing of water upon the fluidised rice may be slightly de¬ layed in order to improve the water absorption of the rice. In a preferred embodiment, about half of the cal¬ culated and effective amount of water is sprayed upon the rice being processed during the first minute or mi- nutes after the start of the spraying of water. The distribution in time of the amount of water sprayed upon the rice depends on the type of rice used. As an examp¬ le, parboiled rice has a more linear absorption of water over time than white and brown rice. The cooking time of the rice may be 20-25 minutes for white rice, up to about 30 minutes for parboiled rice, and 35-40 minutes for brown rice. The water spraying time may amount to 10-15 minutes for white rice, 15-20 minutes for parboi¬ led rice, and about 30 minutes for brown rice. Preferably, a predrying step is used before the fi- nal drying of the rice. During the predrying step the surface temperature of the rice grains is lowered as fast as possible by the use of ambient or dry and rela¬ tively cold air, e.g. at 20-75°C, such that the rice grains do not stick so hard to each other. This step may last for at most 3-6 minutes, i.e. it should be kept as short as possible. The predrying step may not be necessary, if the ri¬ ce can be kept in a fluidised state when transferred di¬ rectly from cooking to drying performed at a higher tem- perature than that used for predrying. During the final drying, the air at the inlet to the bed may have a tem¬ perature in the range of 120-160°C. Lower air temperatu¬ res may result in a shrinking of the rice grains. Higher air temperatures give a shorter drying time period but imply difficulties in the control of the drying process and may result in big holes in the rice grains. According to the invention, the drying time is pre¬ ferably minimized with maintained good control of the drying process by the use of a higher air temperature in the beginning of the drying time period than in the end thereof. During a first, preferably very short part of the drying time period, the water content of the rice is reduced at a constant rate, when unbound water evapora¬ tes. During the remaining part of the drying time peri- od, the water content of the rice is reduced at a fal- ling rate due to the drying being dependant upon the ra¬ te of water diffusion within the rice grains. The drying should be stopped in such time that the final product will have a moisture content of 9-14% and a bulk density of about 350-450 kg/m 3 . A lower moisture content than 9% may reduce the ability of the rice grains to absorb wa¬ ter when later cooked, and a higher moisture content than 14% will reduce the time that the rice may be sto¬ red. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, an apparatus for per¬ forming the above described process comprises a housing 1 having an inlet feeder 2 and an outlet feeder 3. The housing contains a cooking zone 4, a predrying zone 5 and a drying zone 6 arranged in sequence from the inlet feeder 2 to the outlet feeder 3. Each one of the zones 4, 5, 6 may be divided into several sections which are divided by partition walls. Each section has a separate fan 7 for circulating a gaseous fluid up through a per¬ forated distributor plate 8 in the bottom of a trough 9. The trough 9 extends through all the zones 4, 5, 6 from the inlet feeder 2 to the outlet feeder 3. Each section of the cooking zone 4 has at least one nozzle 10 for injection of primary steam and make-up steam and at least one water spray nozzle 11. The water spray nozzles 11 are connected to a common water feed pipe 12 having a heater 13, via separate valves 14, such that water may be sprayed upon the rice at different ra¬ tes in the respective sections. Further, each section of the cooking zone has a drain outlet 15 for water conden- sed on interior parts of the section. As illustrated, water may also be sprayed, by means of a further water spray nozzle 16, on the rice when fed in through the in¬ let feeder 2. In the cooking zone 4, the fans 7 recircu¬ late the gaseous fluid, i.e. through the trough 9 and back to each fan 7. As exemplified in FIG. 3, the rice can have a tem¬ perature of 20°C and a moisture content of 10-13% when fed into the apparatus through the inlet feeder 2. The water sprayed upon the rice grains in the cooking zone 4 via the nozzles 11 may be heated by the heater 13 close to 100°C, typically 95-98°C. The sections of the cooking zone 4 allow the controlled application of water, i.e. the water is sprayed upon the rice as a function of coo¬ king time. Thus, as the rice moves along its path in the cooking zone 4, it passes through the sections, each with individually controlled water spray. This allows the rate at which water is sprayed to be varied, there being two types of variation. One type of variation is achieved by shutting off water in one or more of the sections, closing their re- spective valves 14. For example, application of water at the start of the passage of rice through the cooking zo¬ ne 4 can be delayed, so that it is steamed before any water is applied, or the water can be shut off before it leaves the cooking zone 4. Another variation is that the spraying rates can be adjusted. In the invention about half of the water can be delivered in as little as one minute while the total spray time is at least ten minutes. Thus, the spraying rate is not constant over the cooking zone 4. Instead, the water application rate should be adjusted to the absorption capacity over time of the rice which capacity is high in the beginning of the cooking period and de¬ creases towards the end of this period. When transferred from the cooking zone 4 to the predrying zone 5, the rice grains may have a moisture content of about 70%. The sections of the predrying zone 5 and the drying zone 6 each have air nozzles 17 and exhaust openings 18. In these sections, ambient air or dried ambient air hea- ted by heaters 19 is blown by the fans 7 up through the perforated distribution plate 8 producing the fluidised bed, and out through the exhaust openings 18. Thus, the¬ re is no recirculation in the predryer zone 5 and in the dryer zone 6. Of course, the air blown out through the exhaust openings could be recirculated. As exemplified in FIG. 3, the dry air blown into the predryer zone 5 may have a temperature of about 60°C, while the dry air blown into the dryer zone 6 may have a temperature of 160°C in a first section and 140°C in a second and last section. Towards the end of the last section, the temperature may be even lower than 140°C. The rice grains may have a moisture content of 50-60% when passing from the predryer section 5 into the dryer section 6, and a moisture content of about 10% when fed out from the dryer section 6 via the outlet fe¬ eder 3. As illustrated in FIG. 2, there is a window 20 in the front of each section to enable observation of each step of the process. Also, each section may have an ope- ning 21 for taking samples of the rice for testing. According to the invention, it may be necessary to increase the velocity of the fluidising air by using high-pressure air at critical moments of the processing, i.e. when the rice is especially difficult to fluidise. The transfer area between the cooking section and the drying section represents such a critical moment. Flui- disation may also be facilitated by the use of a vibra¬ ted fluid bed, i.e. by vibrating the bottom of the trough or the whole trough containing the rice. Finally, a less sticky product could be obtained by inserting a step of spraying the rice with water, e.g. at 50°C, before the drying thereof.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A method of continuously processing rice to pro¬ vide a quick-cooking rice, comprising the steps of: continuously conveying the rice along a path through a series of successive zones of the path; fluidising the rice in a first one of said zones along the path by recirculation of a gaseous fluid comp¬ rising primary saturated steam at about 100°C during a cooking time period of conveyance of the rice through the first one of said zones; injecting saturated make-up steam at about 100°C into the recirculating gaseous fluid in order to replace condensed primary steam; spraying water of a temperature of about 100°C upon the fluidised rice at a variable application rate over at least a major part of the first one of said zo¬ nes and in an amount effective for gelatinizing all starch of the fluidised rice while in the first zone,- and drying the rice mainly in fluidised state by dry air. 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spraying of water is slightly delayed in the first zone in order to improve the water absorption of the rice. 3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a sub¬ stantial portion of the effective amount of water is sprayed upon the rice immediately after the start of spraying of water. 4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein about half of the effective amount of water is sprayed upon the rice during the first minute or minutes after the start of spraying of water. 5. The method as claimed in claim l, wherein the temperature of the sprayed water is at about 100°C. 6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein water is sprayed upon the rice during about 10 - 30 minutes, depending upon the type of the rice, when the rice is conveyed through a major part of the first one of said zones. 7. The method as claimed in claim l, wherein the cooking time period is from about 20 minutes to about 40 minutes, depending upon the type of the rice, correspon- ding to the conveyance time of the rice through the first one of said zones. 8. The method as claimed in claim l, wherein the moisture content of the rice at the end of the cooking time period is 63-73%. 9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the drying is preceded by a predrying step comprising blowing air at 20-75°C through the rice bed. 10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the rice is predried for at most 3-6 minutes before the dry- ing step. 11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rice is dried by dry air at 120-160°C. 12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the temperature of the dry air is lowered towards the end of the drying time period. 13. The method as claimed in claim l, wherein the rice is dried to a moisture content of 10-12%. 14. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rice is heat-treated before being cooked. 15. An apparatus for continuously processing rice to provide a quick-cooking rice, comprising: conveyor means for continuously conveying the rice along a path, the path including a series of successive zones (4-6) of the path; updraft fan means (7) for fluidising the rice in a first one (4) of said zones along the path by recircula¬ ting a gaseous fluid comprising primary saturated steam at about 100°C during a cooking time period of convey¬ ance of the rice through the first one of said zones,- injection means (10) for injecting saturated make¬ up steam at about 100°C into the recirculating gaseous fluid in order to replace condensed primary steam; water-spray means (11-14) for spraying water of a temperature of about 100°C upon the fluidised rice at a variable application rate over at least a major part of the first one (4) of said zones and in an amount effec¬ tive for gelatinizing all starch of the fluidised rice while in the first one of said zones,- and drying means (7, 17-19) for drying the rice mainly in a fluidised state by dry air. 16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein at least the first one (4) of the zones comprises sections along the path, and wherein the water-spray means (11-14) includes means (14) for individually controlling a water application rate in each respective one of the sections. 17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the means (14) for individually controlling a water ap¬ plication rate in each respective one of the sections includes individual valves fed from a common water feed pipe (12) . 18. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the water-spray means (11-14) includes means (14) for spraying water downwardly. 19. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the water-spray means (11-14) includes means for spray¬ ing water at about 90-100°C. 20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the water-spray means (11-14) includes means for spray¬ ing water at about 95-98°C.

Inventors: HYLLSTAM MARI, NORBERG MICHAEL, PAAHLSSON STEN, HYLLSTAM, MARI, NORBERG, MICHAEL, PAAHLSSON, STEN
Applicants: FRIGOSCANDIA EQUIPMENT AB
Application year: 1996
Main classification: A23L1
IPC codes: A23L1