Correlation between Property of Paste and Drying Rate on Degree of Swelling of Normal Rice Cracker

Abstract

Sembei produced from normal rice is one of the traditional Japanese rice crackers (Beika) and is generally produced by roasting the dried rice paste. The degree of swelling after roasting the rice paste is generally thought to depend on the property of rice paste characterized by forming molecular networks of starch during the drying process. So, the dispersion degrees of rice pastes prepared in various drying processes were tested in order to reveal the effects of temperature and drying time. It was suggested that the hardness of the molecular networks formed was dependent on the drying rate. In the manufacture of sembei, control of the drying rate is very important until the moisture of the rice paste reaches about 25% because the dispersion degree is alterable. When the drying rate undergoes unusual acceleration before in rice paste reaches about 25%, it could be thought that sufficient swelling of the paste does not occur in the process of roasting.