Study on Process conditions that Affect the Quality of “Instant-Jasmine Rice” Developed as a New Personal Combat Ration for Royal Thai Army

Abstract

This research aims to develop a new type of personal combat ration for Royal Thai Army. The ration is developed as an instant Jasmine-rice (semi-cooked) which has several advantages over uncooked rice such as shorter cooking time. The article proposes optimum process conditions for producing the instant rice. The process composes of 3 steps i.e., soaking and preheat, cooking and gelatinizing, and drying. The optimal conditions are soaking at 70 ^oC for 15 min. in 0.05 w/v sodium-phosphate solution, boiling for 5 min., and then drying in hot air oven at 75 ^oC until rice’s moisture reach below 7 percent. The product is packed in vacuum seal bag total of 150 g./bag which gives energy of 534 kcal. Sensory evaluation is performed by 94 cadets of Chulachomklao Military Academy. Result shows that average score for our product fall into “like” category. Moreover, the product’s score is not significantly differed to those for conventional cooked rice (p ≤ 0.05). The suitability in battlefield is also evaluated by the cadets with the average score fall into “good” category.