Development and quality evalution of hot extruded RTE products from speciality rice

Abstract

As the eating patterns are changing day by day, snack foods play very important role in the diet of the modern consumer. Consumer appeal for ready‐to‐eat (RTE) products is forecast to grow rapidly as consumers demand convenient snacks with exciting sensory and textural properties. Extrusion technology has been used extensively in the production of cereal RTE snacks due to its ease of operation and ability to produce a variety of textures and shapes which appeal to consumers . So the present study was undertaken to develop ready to eat (RTE) expanded products from rice varieties (Rakthashali and Kumkumashali) and corn. The blends of six different combinations were extruded at temperature of 100 and 110°C at a screw speed of 350 rpm and 17.5% feed moisture content. From these seven extruded product was evaluated for physical, colour and textural properties. The extruded products were stored in aluminium pouches and with nitrogen flushing. The quality parameters (expansion ratio, water activity, colour and textural properties) of stored RTE products were analysed upto three months. Based on sensory evaluation, a combination with Corn and Kumkumashali rice in 50 : 50 ratio was selected as the best combination out of all combinations under concern for the production of RTE product.