Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Plant material is basic ingredient other than extract,...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-11
2003-07-01
Pratt, Helen (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Plant material is basic ingredient other than extract,...
C426S483000, C426S518000, C426S618000, C426S629000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06586036
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a novel process for increasing the rate of hydration of food crop seeds, particularly for the dry instantization of rice.
2. Description of Related Art
The demand by consumers for fast cooking food products has continued to increase in recent years. However, a number of food crop seeds such as brown rice, wild rice and beans require long cooking times, due in large part to their slow rate of hydration. Consequently, the consumption of these food crop seeds has been significantly limited in the United States.
A number of instant or quick-cooking rice and vegetable products have been developed and are currently available. Generally, instant or quick-cooking rice products are prepared by first hydrating and/or precooking raw rice, and subsequently drying the treated rice to a desired moisture content. These methods of instantization require significant amounts of water and energy, adding additional cost to the product and often affecting product quality. Moreover, most of these processes have been developed for production of white rice from which the bran layers have been removed. Relatively few quick-cooking brown or wild rice products have been developed. Because the bran layers contain most of the nutrients in the rice grain, the development of quick-cooking brown and wild rice products acceptable to the consumer would be highly desirable. In one process described by Gorozpe (U.S. Pat. No. 3,157,514), whole grain, brown or white milled rice are first pretreated to create fissures or cracks in the rice grain by heating. The fissured rice is then hydrated, cooked to partially gelatinize the starch, cooled and dried. Other processes for the preparation of quick-cooking brown or wild rice include those described by Carlson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,898) and Weibye (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,677,907 and 4,385,074). However, despite these advances, there remains a need for improved methods for preparing quick-cooking rice and other food crop seed products at less expense.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
I have now discovered a novel process for significantly increasing the rate of hydration of food crop seeds without loss of the nutritious and beneficial portions of the seeds. In this process, the seed of interest is bombarded with an abrasive particulate sufficient to create microperforations in the water resistant outer coat of the seed. Alternatively, the seeds may be propelled toward and impacted against an abrasive surface to create the microperforations in the water resistant outer coat. These microperforations in the treated seed significantly increase the rate of hydration of the seed and hence decrease cooking time accordingly. Moreover, this process effects improved hydration without removing any significant portions of the water resistant outer coat or layers of the seed which lie underneath the coat.
In accordance with this discovery, it is an object of this invention to provide a dry process for significantly increasing the rate of hydration of food crop seeds.
Another object of this invention is to provide a process for increasing the rate of hydration of food crop seeds while leaving nutritious and beneficial portions of the seeds substantially intact.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a process for the dry instantization of rice without hydration or cooking, while leaving the bran layers substantially intact.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become readily apparent from the ensuing description.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
For a number of food crop seeds, the time required to hydrate the seeds, such as prior to or during cooking, may be exceptionally long. The process of the invention described herein significantly increases the rate of hydration of food crop seeds, consequently reducing their associated cooking time. In contrast to previously described processes, the process of this invention may be conducted as a dry process, and does not require hydration, cooking, or heating. While the process is preferably used for the treatment of dehulled (i.e. dehusked) cultivated brown rice or wild rice, particularly strains of
Oryza sativa
L. and
O. glaberrima
Steud., it may also be used for the treatment of other food seed crops of interest, including but not limited to beans, soybeans, wheat, oats and corn. As defined herein, dehulled rice refers to a quantity of rice grains which have been dehulled to an extent such that more than or equal to 90% of the grains are dehulled. In the preferred embodiment, more than or equal to about 99% of the rice grains are dehulled. Dehulling may be conducted using conventional techniques.
In a first embodiment, the food crop seed described above is bombarded with a high velocity abrasive particulate which is propelled against the target seed under conditions and for a period of time effective to scarify the seed by creating microperforations (i.e., nicks, holes or cuts) in the water resistant outer layer(s). However, the outer layer(s) are not abraded away, but remain substantially intact on the seed. The second, alternative embodiment is predicated upon the same principle although the roles of the bombarding material and the material impacted are reversed. In this second embodiment, the seeds are propelled at a high velocity and directed against an abrasive surface effective for creating the microperforations in the water resistant layers upon impact therewith.
In either of the first or second embodiments, the bombarding particle (i.e., the abrasive particulate or seed, respectively) are preferably propelled by entrainment in a high velocity gaseous flowstream. However, the bombarding particles may also be propelled mechanically as described in greater detail hereinbelow.
Food crop seeds typically consist of an embryo and endosperm surrounded by one or more relatively tough, water resistant layers, the pericarp and the seed coat or testa. In rice, the embryo and endosperm of the grain are surrounded, in order from the outermost to innermost layers, by the hull, pericarp, seed coat, nucellus and aleurone. Removal of the hull by dehulling exposes the brown rice, also referred to as the caryopsis. The remaining outer four layers of the brown rice, the pericarp, seed coat, nucellus and aleurone, comprise the bran layers of the rice grain and are high in nutrients, with the aleurone layer being particularly high in protein and lipid bodies. However, the pericarp, seed coat and nucellus, which are collectively referred to as the caryopsis coat, each contain a cuticle and are nearly impermeable to water when intact. In accordance with this invention, exposure of dehulled brown rice or wild rice to the abrasive particulates produces microperforations through the pericarp which may also extend through one or more or all of the underlying layers of the caryopsis coat and the aleurone to expose the endosperm. However, this treatment does not remove a substantial portion of the bran layers, but rather the bran layers remain substantially (defined herein as more than 50%, by weight) intact on the rice grains. In the preferred embodiment, more than or equal to approximately 80% by weight of the bran layers remain on the treated rice grains. In other words, the bran layers, and particularly the aleurone layer, remain on the rice grain. Although the pericarp, being the outermost layer, may be partially abraded or eroded away, a substantial portion thereof. (as defined above) remains on the grain. For treatment of other food crop seeds, it is understood that the treatment of this invention may be effective for creating microperforations in the pericarp and/or seed coat to the same extent.
A variety of materials may be used herein as the abrasive particulate. Suitable abrasive particulates should have sharp or angular edges or surfaces and are preferably harder than the seed being treated, although softer particulates may be effective when propelled at higher velocities. The optimal particulate selected will therefore vary with the particul
Deck Randall E.
Fado John D.
Pratt Helen
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of
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