High-pressure homogenization thinned starch paste and its application in improving the stickiness of cooked non-glutinous rice

Improving the stickiness of non-glutinous rice is an important strategy in scaling out the applications of rice foods, e.g. Sushi, Zongzi etc. In this study, the effect of HPH treatments on the transparency and molecular structure of starch and the stickiness of cooked non-glutinous rice were investigated by cooking rice with highpressure homogenization (HPH) thinned starch paste. HPH treatments significantly increased the light transmittance of starch paste from 7.6% to 81.3% (p < 0.05). The average molecular size of corn starch is reduced with HPH pressure increasing while HPH treatment significantly decreases the content of starch chains with degree of polymerization (DP) 37-100 and DP 2000-20000 (p < 0.05). By cooking rice with the HPH treated starch paste solutions, the stickiness of non-glutinous rice is significantly increased (p < 0.05) and the HPH treatment with 60 MPa and 3% starch concentration is the optimal condition in increasing rice stickiness. This study paves a way in improving the stickiness of non-glutinous and a great potential in amplifying the applications of rice products by modifying rice stickiness attribute.