Characterisation of a novel softened rice product.

We developed a novel softened rice by permeating rice with enzymes that catalyse its decomposition. Herein, we characterised the softened rice (SR) and compared it to normal cooked rice (CR) and rice gruel (RG). SR resembled CR but not RG in appearance. Texture analysis showed that SR was the least firm, adhesive, and cohesive of the three rice preparations. SR contained almost the same amount of nutrition per unit mass as CR and twofold as much as RG. Analysis of digests of energy-equivalent amounts of the three rice preparations indicated that SR digests had the lowest quantity of residue and highest quantity of dissolved carbohydrate, maltose and glucose. The molecular weight (MW) range of SR constituents was 10(3)-10(5), whilst those of CR and RG constituents were mainly 10(5)-10(6). These results suggested that enzymatic decomposition of SR improves ease of eating, nutrition value, and digestibility at once.