PROCESSING

METHODS
FTO-117
Parboiling
• Parboiling refers to a partial boiling of rice, mostly done while
still in the husk and sometimes in the form of brown rice.
• 90% of all parboiled rice is produced in South Asia.
• Diverse ways of parboiling are known, which can be grouped
into three main categories:
• Conventional parboiling: Soaking, draining, cooking, and drying
• Low-moisture parboiling: Partial soaking is followed by high-
pressure steaming
• Dry-heat parboiling: Soaking followed by a combined conduction
heating/drying step
Parboiling
Rice Starch • The cooking qualities of rice are largely dependent on the
amount of its amylose content.
• Parboiling refers to a partial boiling of rice, mostly done while
Amylose Amylopectin still in the husk and sometimes in the form of brown rice.
• 90% of all parboiled rice is produced in South Asia.
Simple chain Branched chain • Diverse ways of parboiling are known, which can be grouped
structure structure
into three main categories:
• Conventional parboiling: Soaking, draining, cooking, and drying
Soluble in hot • Low-moisture parboiling: Partial soaking is followed by high-
Water insoluble pressure steaming
water
• Dry-heat parboiling: Soaking followed by a combined conduction
heating/drying step
Forms viscous
suspension with
hot water
 Breakdown of Starch

1. Swelling 2. Gelatinization 3. Retrogradation

Second stage of swelling

Temp. below 65°C Occurs at temp. above 75°C

Begins when temp. crosses 70°C

Water is slowly and
reversibly taken up by the Starch granules become
grain formless sacs.
At this temperature, starch granules suddenly swell in size
with an absorption of a huge amount of water

Limited swelling
Breakage of hydrogen bonds between amylose and Hard gel-like starch obtained
amylopectin components, exposes more surface area for
water absorption by the starch granules
Viscosity of starch does not
increase
Rapid rise in viscosity of the starch suspension

Granules lose their crystalline structure and birefringence

(Gelatinization)
Objectives of Parboiling
• The parboiling process produces physical, chemical, and organoleptic modifications in the rice, with
economic and nutritional advantages.
• The major objectives of parboiling are to:
1. increase the total and head yield of the paddy
2. prevent the loss of nutrients during milling
3. salvage wet or damaged paddy
4. prepare the rice according to the requirements of consumers
Parboiled vs. Raw Rice
Parboiled rice differs from raw rice in many ways.
• In contrast to raw rice, parboiled rice appears glassy, translucent and has an amber
colour before cooking.
• After cooking, it is firmer, fluffier, and less sticky.
• Parboiling leads to a decrease in the thiamine content of brown rice, but milled
parboiled rice contains more thiamine than milled raw rice at the same degree of
milling.
• Head rice yield is increased to near-maximum if parboiling and subsequent drying
are properly done.

- Swelling of the starchy endosperm during cooking heals pre-existing defects like
chalky parts or fissures.
- Head rice yield (HRY): mass of head rice expressed as a percentage of the original
rough rice mass.
- HRY can vary from 0% (all kernels are broken) to a maximum of approximately
70% (no kernels broken).
- Milling quality is often expressed as a ratio of head rice yield to milled rice yield.
Process of Parboiling
Soaking Water absorption along with the swelling of grain.

Water moves inside the grain until the water vapour pressure inside
the grain is less than that of soaked water.

Soaking provides starch with water required for gelatinization.

Rate of soaking depends on temperature of soaking water.

Parameters affecting soaking: soaking temperature, time, and pH.

Process of Parboiling
Steaming Steaming temperature and time control degree of coloration and hardness of parboiled rice.

Higher the values of these parameters, darker is the colour and harder is the texture of the end product.

Colour change may be due to reaction between reducing sugars and amino acids.

Soaking provides starch with water required for gelatinization.

Granular texture of the endosperm becomes pasty due to gelatinization; crack in the caryopsis are sealed;
endosperm becomes compact and translucent; enzymes are inactivated.

Saturated steam at 4–5 kg/𝑐𝑚2 pressure for a period of 20–30 min is employed for steaming the soaked
paddy in a batch process.
Process of Parboiling
Drying After soaking and steaming, paddy contains about 45%–50% moisture.

It needs to be dried to a moisture content of about 17.3% (d.b.) for safe storage and proper milling.

In India, a part of drying is still carried out in the sun on large paved yards in rice mills.

Paddy is dried to a moisture content of about 20% in a day, heaped, tempered and dried again dried to bring down
the moisture to 14%–15%.

If parboiled paddy is uniformly dried by shade, sun, or hot air, there is almost no breakage.

Breakage does not occur unless moisture content reaches and crosses 18%, after which breakage increases sharply.

Cracks are not developed during drying but cracks develop over a period of 2 h after drying. Hence drying of parboiled
paddy should be carried out in two phases.

In first stage of drying, moisture content is reduced from 40% to 25%, at 95°C–100°C.

Second phase involves tempering for 8–10 h to equalize the moisture within the kernels, and dried to 14%–15%
moisture content at 75°C–80°C.
 Process of Parboiling
Milling Breakage of rice during milling is due to inherent
cracks and fissures present in the kernel. It also
depends on the milling conditions and the type
of milling machineries used.

Short rice varieties are usually more resistant to

breakage as compared to long slender varieties.

HYR is improved by parboiling, particularly for

the varieties having poor milling qualities.

Parboiling seals the cracks and hardens the

grain.

Moisture content is reduced to 10–11% for

better storage.
Basic
Parboiling
Set-up
Industrial
Parboiling
Set-up
Changes after Parboiling
The changes occurring in the parboiling process are as
follows:
The water-soluble vitamins and mineral salts are spread
throughout the grain.
• Riboflavin and thiamine contents are four times higher in
parboiled rice than in milled rice.
• Thiamine is more evenly distributed in the parboiled rice,
and the niacin level in this rice is eight times greater.
• This is due to inward diffusion of the above from the bran
into the kernel.
• Fat-soluble vitamins migrate outwards; lesser in parboiled
water-soluble vitamins grains compared to raw grains.
 Changes after Parboiling
• Birefringence is a phenomenon wherein the starch layers are
observed as an ordered crystalline distribution, under a microscope.
• During hot water–soaking treatment during parboiling, rice starch
loses birefringence as its structure changes from crystalline to
amorphous.
• The starch grains embedded in a proteinaceous matrix are gelatinized
and expanded until they fill up the surrounding air spaces.
• During gelatinization, an irreversible swelling and fusion of starch granules
occur that change the structure of the starch from a crystalline to an
amorphous one.

• The protein substances are separated and sink into the compact mass
of gelatinized starch, becoming less liable to extraction.
Advantages of Parboiling
Parboiling of paddy results in the following major advantages:

• Less broken grains in the milled rice due to hard texture

• An increase in the total yield of rice (milling yield)
• Greater nutrient status (particularly the B-vitamin contents)
• Translucent rice kernels
• Less loss of solid gruel during cooking
• Less susceptible to insect attack during storage
• Non-glutinous and non-sticky rice
• Higher percentage of oil in parboiled rice bran (about 25%–28% oil content)
• Relatively stabilized bran produced during parboiling
• Easier husking (leading to higher husking efficiency) during milling
Disadvantages of Parboiling
Parboiling of paddy results in the following major advantages:

• Relatively darker-coloured rice produced

• Off-flavoured rice, produced by traditional parboiling process, due to prolonged soaking
• Longer cooking time compared to raw rice
• Chances of development of mycotoxins in the long traditional parboiling process
• Destruction of some natural antioxidants during heat treatment
• Requirement of more power for polishing
• Requirement of an additional initial capital
Milling
• Husk/bran layers are composed of rough, fibrous, pigmented, and waxy substances that are
undesirable for edible purposes.
• They also consist of oily germs that are undesirable for storage purposes.
• Milling refers to the size reduction and separation operations used for processing of food grains into
an edible form by removing and separating the inedible and undesirable portions from them.
• In grain milling, the outer husk/bran layers are removed from the grain while retaining its shape,
whereas in flour milling, flour without or with negligible bran content is prepared without the grain
shape.
• Milling may involve cleaning/separation, husking, sorting, whitening, polishing, grinding, sifting, etc.
• Quality and quantity of milled gains and their end products can be improved by subjecting to
hydrothermal treatment prior to milling. This process is called conditioning.
 Incoming grain is cleaned, inspected, and stored according to quality
before milling.

Preparation of grain by tempering or conditioning to facilitate removal of

hulls (dehulling), bran, and germ from the endosperm.

Milling by dehulling or pearling, and polishing the grain (oats, barley, and
rice), or by a series of gradual grinding and sifting (corn and durum
wheat) or fine powder form as in meal and flour (rye and wheat).

Physical or chemical treatment to enhance product quality.

Packaging, storage, and handling of finished products.

Basic Processing Steps and End Products
in Grain Milling
Hydrothermal Conditioning
• Sometimes, cereals, pulses, and other food grains are subjected to
conditioning or hydrothermal treatment.
• It refers to the addition of moisture and heat to the grains to
improve the quality and quantity of their end products or to
facilitate different milling operations for the desired products.
• It is commonly called conditioning and is considered a pre-milling
treatment.
• It can be carried out either at room temperature, at a little
elevated temperature, or even at high temperature.
• It can be used for improving the shelling efficiency, nutritional
quality, and milling quality of paddy and for facilitating
degermination and dehulling of corn and wheat.
Hydrothermal Conditioning
• Pulses are conditioned by alternate wetting and
drying.
• It helps in the dehusking and splitting of the kernels
during milling.
• Even toxins of certain pulses, which cause paralysis,
can be removed by soaking in hot water.
• The disagreeable odour of soybean can also be
removed by blanching.
• Therefore, simultaneous addition of moisture and
heat to the grains and other crops is an important
step in cereal milling and crop processing.
 Physicothermal Properties

• Hardness of cereal grains decreases with the increase of their moisture content.
• Among all crops, the hardness of corn is highest, followed by highly vitreous wheat
Strength/Hardness variety.

• Bulk density of grain decreases with increase in moisture content.

• With the increase of moisture, the softness of grains increases.
Density and • Moisture content of any grain for milling is determined on the basis of its physical
properties (mainly hardness).
Hardness • Optimum moisture contents for milling of parboiled paddy and soft and hard
varieties of wheat are about 15%, 14%, and 17%, respectively.
 Physicothermal Properties
• When grains are subjected to alternate wetting and drying processes, their primary
hardness decreases.
• Husk, germ, and endosperm are hydrated and swelled by hydrothermal treatment,
Hysteresis but plastic deformation takes place only in the case of husk and germ, making
them more rubberlike and less brittle.
• This leads to easy removal of husk and germ and lowers usage of specific power
requirement for grinding.

• Specific heat, thermal conductivity, and thermal diffusivity of grains, increase with
the increase of either temperature or moisture content or both.
Thermal Properties • The rate of hydration and chemical reactions also increases as temperature
increases.
Biochemical and Physiochemical Properties
• Biochemical properties of grains depend on their protein and amylose contents.
• Wheat conditioned at a temperature between 40°C and 50°C, the yield of crude gluten is higher than that
of wheat conditioned at ordinary temperature, thus both qualitative and quantitative are seen.
• Changes in the proteolytic and amylolytic complexes determine the physical properties of the dough and
the bread-making properties to a considerable extent.
• Thus, changes in biochemical properties affect primarily the bread-making properties, i.e., colour and
structure of the crumb and especially the volume of the bread produced.
• Hydrothermal treatment prior to milling allows easy removal of germ and bran layers without much
reduction in their sizes.
• Hydrothermal treatment of wheat mainly affects the flour milling properties, i.e., whiteness of flour and
specific power consumption for grinding, etc.
Classification of
husking/
scouring/ hulling
methods
In grain milling, husk is
removed from the grain,
retaining its original shape,
whereas in flour milling bran
is removed from the grain to
produce flour without any
emphasis on its shape.
 Factors Affecting the Effectiveness of
Hulling/Husking/Scouring
• The effectiveness of hulling depends on the properties of the grain and the type of huller.
• The amount of desired and undesired products obtained from cereal milling depends on the
following grain parameters:

1. Type of grain and its special properties

2. Bond strength between kernel and husk, strength of the kernel, and strength of the husk.
3. Sound or cracked grain, grain size, and uniformity of size
4. Moisture content of grain and difference in moisture content between husk and kernel
5. Extent of hydrothermal treatment given to the grain
6. Proportion of husked kernel in the grain
7. Ease of separation
Grinding
Plain grinding: hard bodies are
ground to a free-flowing material
consisting of particles of sufficiently
uniform size.

Selective grinding: grinding

operation is carried out in a number of
stages using differences in structural
and mechanical properties of the
components of the body.

Parameters affecting grinding:

(i) type of cereal grain;
(ii) variety;
(iii) moisture content
(iv) mechanical properties.
(v) extent of hydrothermal treatment given to the grain
Germination
• Various factors reduce nutritional value of
cereals and pulses, such as enzyme inhibitors
and other anti-nutritional components which
limit protein digestibility and quality, and metal
chelating agents which reduce the bioavailability
of micronutrients such as iron and zinc.
• Processing methods, including germination,
fermentation, soaking, dehulling and thermal
treatments (e.g., infrared heating, canning or
boiling) may be employed to eliminate or reduce
the level or activity of these factors.
Germination of Pulses and Cereals
• Germination (sprouting) is a traditional, non-thermal process
which:
• improves the nutritional quality of cereals and pulses by increasing
nutrient digestibility,
• reduces levels or activities of anti-nutritional compounds
• Boosts contents of free amino acids and available carbohydrate
• improves functionality

• Germination involves chemical changes such as the hydrolysis of

starch, protein and fat by amylolytic, proteolytic and lipolytic
enzymes, respectively.
• When grains and seeds are hydrated (soaked) and then held
(sprouted) under ambient conditions, both endogenous and
newly synthesized enzymes begin to modify seed constituents.
• Thus, complex macromolecules are broken down into lower
molecular weight molecules which are more digestible and more
readily absorbed by the body
Effect of Germination on Protein Digestibility
• Nutritional benefits of pulse proteins may be limited by anti-nutrients and protease inhibitors which form
complexes with proteins and proteolytic enzymes, reducing the bioavailability and digestibility of dietary
protein.
• Germination can reduce the detrimental effect of these anti-nutritional factors and allow the full dietary
benefits of cereal and pulse proteins to be realized.
• In vitro protein digestibility increases in pulses and cereals after germination.
• This is due to enzymatic hydrolysis and compositional changes due to degradation of constituents such as
phytic acid, polyphenols and protease inhibitors.
• Availability of crude protein and essential amino acids increases substantially during germination.
• The advantage of germination is that it is a simple technique and a traditional method common in many
households.
Effect of Germination on Carbohydrate
• Germination induces biochemical changes in carbohydrate that reduce energy values compared to
raw and roasted samples.
• It triggers enzymatic activity in sprouting seeds, leading to the breakdown of carbohydrates into
simpler forms.
• Hydrolytic enzymes are activated during germination which results in degradation of starch and non-
starch polysaccharides and an increase in reducing sugars, along with the release of insoluble
phenolic compounds covalently bound to cell wall polysaccharides.
• The combined activity of α- and β-amylases, debranching enzyme and α-glucosidase is responsible
for starch breakdown.
• However, the rate and pattern of enzymatic hydrolysis of starch are dependent on its structure.
Effect of Germination on Vitamins and Minerals
• The biochemical processes occurring during germination can generate bioactive components such as
riboflavin, thiamine, biotin, pantothenic acid, niacin, vitamin C, tocopherols and phenolic
compounds, and also increase their availability.
• Additionally, due to the increased content of free amino acids and reducing sugars, sprouting of
cereals such as wheat can potentially promote the Maillard reaction.
• Germination has been shown to enhance the bioavailability of minerals such as iron and zinc in
cereals and pulses.
• Minerals can also leach out into the soak water during the germination process.
Effect of Germination on Functional Properties
• Germination process may improve the functionality of cereals and pulses.
• Amongst the functional properties, solubility is often considered the most critical because it affects other
properties such as emulsification, foaming and gelation.
• Breakdown of high molecular weight polymers during germination leads to the generation of bio-functional
substances and an improvement in organoleptic qualities due to a softening of texture and an increase in the
flavour of various cereals.
• It leads to an increase in the water absorption capacity of prepared flour after germination, which could be
due to increase in protein quality upon germination (e.g., partial unravelling of the protein structure via
enzymatic action) and also the breakdown of polysaccharide molecules.
• Germination can lead to increase in oil absorption capacity, emulsion activity and emulsion stability of
sorghum flour after three days of germination.
• This might be due to the dissociation and partial unfolding of polypeptides that expose the hydrophobic sites
of amino acids, which aids hydrophobic association of the peptide chains with lipid droplets.
 Effect of Germination on
Anti-nutritional Properties
• Germination can significantly reduce of anti-nutritional factors, including phenolic compounds,
phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors and oligosaccharides.
• Unlike protease inhibitors, galactose oligosaccharides (raffinose, stachyose, verbascose, etc.) found
in pulses are at least partly responsible for flatulence in humans, which may affect the utilization and
acceptance of pulses and pulse ingredients.
• Mechanisms of anti-nutrient reduction during germination vary, tannins are presumed to leach into
the germination medium or to undergo degradation.
• Soaking and germination of pulses for 48 hours reduces tannin content of chickpea and pigeon pea,
black gram and green gram.
• Dilute solutions of sodium hydroxide have been shown to be effective in inactivating sorghum
tannins during soaking, otherwise tannins would bind to proteins reducing their digestibility and
their essential enzymatic activities.
 Effect of Germination on
Anti-nutritional Properties
• Endogenous phytase breaks down phytates, liberating inorganic phosphate.
• Phytate reduction was reported in kidney bean after germination for four days.
• Since phytic acid reduces mineral bioavailability, its reduction during germination enhances the
available mineral content in pulses.
• Complex oligosaccharides conc. in pulses decreases substantially during germination, to simple
sugars (fructose and glucose) that are easily absorbed and utilized by the body.
• Germination have a positive effect on the presence of saponins in soybeans, which can be classified
as soyasapogenol A- or B-type.
• Soyasapogenol A has been associated with undesirable bitter and astringent tastes in foods,
whereas B-type has been linked to a number of health promoting benefits.
Fermentation of Cereals and Pulses
• Microbial fermentation leads to a decrease in the level of carbohydrates as well as some non-
digestible poly- and oligosaccharides.
• It thus reduces side effects such as abdominal distention and flatulence.
• Certain amino acids may be synthesised and the availability of B group vitamins may be improved.
• Fermentation by lactic acid bacteria increases free amino acids and their derivatives by proteolysis
and/or by metabolic synthesis.
• The microbial mass can also supply low molecular mass nitrogenous metabolites by cellular lysis.
• Improves nutritional value of grains such as wheat and rice, by increasing essential amino acids
lysine, methionine and tryptophan content.
• Fermentation of rice by lactic acid bacteria enhances the flavour, nutritive value and available
lysine content.
 Fermentation of Cereals and Pulses
• It significantly lowers the content of antinutrients (phytates, tanins, polyphenol) of grains.
• It provides optimum pH conditions for enzymatic degradation of phytate which is present in cereals in the
form of complexes with polyvalent cations such as iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium and proteins.
• Also reduction in phytate may increase the amount of soluble iron, zinc, calcium several folds.
• Improvement in starch digestibility during fermentation can be related to
• Enzymes of fermenting microflora breaks starch oligosaccharides by cleaving amylase and amylopectin to
maltose and glucose.
• Enhanced proteolytic activity of the fermenting microflora improves protein digestibility.
• Traditional foods made from cereal grains usually lack flavour and aroma. During cereal fermentations
several volatile compounds such as diacetyl, acetic acid and butyric acid.
• Proteolytic enzymes with malt enzymes produce precursors of flavour compounds, such as amino acids,
which may be deaminated or decarboxylated to aldehydes and these may be oxidized to acids or reduced to
alcohols.
Malting of Cereals
• Malting is a controlled germination process, which activates the enzymes of the resting grain resulting in the
conversion of cereal proteins and other macromolecules.
• Generally barley is the grain used in the production of malt. Other grains include wheat, jowar and ragi.
• The process of malting of cereal grain consists of the following steps :
1. Selection of grain and cleaning.
2. Steeping in cold water for 36 hours with 2 to 3 changes in
water.
3. Germination : The grains are spread on wire mesh trays and
kept for 3 days. Water is sprinkled over each of these trays.
Amylases and proteases are formed.
4. Kilning : The germinated grains are dried at slow rate on kilns.
The amylases act on starch hydrolysing it to dextrin and
proteases act on protein hydrolysing them to peptones.
5. Removal of Rootlets.
Malting of Cereals
1. Selection of the grain and cleaning:
• The grain should be of good quality and free from infestation.
• The seed selected should have high germination capacity.
• The gain is cleaned of all impurities and graded to remove
undersize grains.
2. Steeping:
• The grain is steeped in cold water for 36 hours in warm climate
with two or three changes of water.
• The steeping may have to be for longer periods (48 to 72
hours) in cold climates.
Malting of Cereals
3. Germination (couching) :
• The steeped grain is spread on wire mesh, trays of 2-3 inch
thickness which are kept in a stand.
• The germination is allowed to proceed for 3 days in a warm
climate.
• In colder climate, longer periods may be required for
germination (4-6 days).
• The grains are mixed up once in 24 hours and water is sprinkled
over them.
• The room in which the trays are kept is aerated by blowing
moist air at a slow rate.
• During germination, amylases and proteinases are formed.
Malting of Cereals
4. Kilning (Slow drying):
Efficient kilning consists of, drying the germinated grain at a slow rate.
During slow drying, the amylases act on starch, hydrolyzing it to
dextrins and proteases which acts on proteins, hydrolyzing them to
proteases and peptones.
Drying carried out at low temperature to conserve as much of the
enzyme activity as possible.
Usually, the temperature is slowly raised to 140ᵒF (60ᵒC) during the
course of 6-10 hours from the time the wet malt is loaded for kilning.
During kilning, the water-soluble carbohydrates and nitrogen (peptones
and peptides) increase.
The characteristic malt flavour is developed.
The malt is dried to a moisture content of about 13 %.
Malting of Cereals
• Amylase Rich Food (ARF) is germinated cereal flours which are
extremely rich in the enzyme alpha - amylase.
• ARF are excellent weaning foods because they reduce the bulk
of weaning foods and are energy dense.
OILSEED PROCESSING
METHODS
Oil Processing
• Seed is cleaned again to remove any clumps that may
have formed during storage.
• Next, it is tempered, which includes adjustment to
room temperature in freezing weather and increasing
the moisture content of very dry seed.
• Both reduce brittleness and shattering during
subsequent dehulling.
• The seed is cracked into 4–6 pieces, and the hulls
removed by aspiration.
• Hulls are separated primarily to increase the
throughput capacity of the solvent extractor and may
be returned to the meal after extraction to adjust the
protein content for animal feed.
Oil Processing
• The dehulled seed then is heated (“cooked”) to
plasticize it for flaking.
• Heating dehulled seeds involves inactivating (fatty
acid splitting) lipases, phospholipases (which produce
non-hydratable phosphatides) and lipoxygenases.
• Rupturing the seed makes the oil more available to
enzymes, whose activity increases with temperature
before their inactivation and will lead to its rancidity.
• Heating and flaking is necessary to disrupt the
structure of the seed.
• Flaking roll creating a smearing action on the flake,
which disrupts oil bodies in individual cells and
enhances screw pressing and solvent extraction.
 Oil Processing
• The expander is an extruder with an interrupted (“cut”) flight
screw, it homogenizes seed and forms a porous crude collet for
solvent extraction.
• It improves oil extraction from the oilseed meal.
• Hard screw press operations reduce residual oil contents of seeds
to 5–6%. Hexane is widely used for oil extraction worldwide.
• A solvent extraction plant includes distillation equipment for
recovering hexane from the miscella (oil-solvent mixture) and
steam sparging equipment to strip solvent from the extracted meal
(marc) for recovery and recycling.
• Miscella refining at the extraction plant also removes gossypol and
prevents color fixation, which can occur if crude cottonseed oil is
not processed soon after extraction.
Refining of Crude Oil
• Refining refers to removal of free fatty acids by any method,
commonly using alkali and steam distillation as used in
deodorization/physical refining.
• The first step after receiving a shipment of crude oil is to estimate
the amount of saleable oil that can be produced from it.
• Analyses, like Neutral Oil and Loss, Free Fatty Acids, Moisture
and Volatiles, Unsaponifiable Matter, Bleach and Color, and
others, are run.
• Free fatty acids are determined by titration, and phosphorous
and other metal contents by ICP (inductively coupled plasma
spectrometry).
Extraction
of Soybean
Oil
Extraction of Sunflower Oil
Extraction of Palm Oil
Extraction of
Coconut Oil