| Abstract | Thai Aromatic rice of Khoa Dawk Mali (KDML 105) was used to develop Quick Cooking Brown Rice (QCBR) product. The cooking process was composed of 1 st soaking, 1 st steaming, 2 nd soaking and 2 nd steaming, respectively. Brown rice was firstly soaked at 35 °C for 2 hours and firstly steamed at 100 °C for 3 minutes. In this study, t he process of 2 nd soaking and 2 nd steaming were investigated. The brown rice was 2 nd soaked at 90°C for 2, 4 minutes and 2 nd steamed at 100°C for 10, 15 and 20 minutes, respectively . The percent gelatinization and grain mutilation on cooked brown rice were studied to select the optimum cooking process . The cooked brown rice was then dried by three drying methods. First and sec ond drying method were conducted using fluidized bed and hot air drying at 95°C, 105°C.115°C and 125°C, respectively and the last method was conduc ted by two - stage of drying (1 st stage drying by fluidized bed (105°C and 125°C ) and 2 nd stage drying by hot air oven (60°C and 80°C)). The effects of drying conditions on selected qualities ( water uptake, bulk density, cooking time, hardness, % breakage and sensory evaluation of dried brown rice were investigated . The selected drying conditions of each drying method were compared on cooking time, hardness, %breakage, fat content and sensory evaluation of dried brown rice to select the optimum drying condition for producing quick cooking brown rice. All results revealed that the optimum processes consisted of cooking and drying in two stages processes. S econd soaking and steaming were performed at 90 °C for 4 minutes and at 100°C for 15 minutes, respectively. The cooked brown rice was then dried by tw o stage of drying. The cooked brown rice was dried by fluidized bed at 125°C for 2 .5 minutes as 1 st stage drying and was then dried by hot air at 80°C for 68 minutes as 2 nd stage drying. Fundamentally, the quality parameters (bulk density, color, cooking time, fat content and hardness) of quick cooking brown rice were considerably altered in comparison to brown rice and commercial QCBR. The results showed that quick cooking products provided lower bulk density, cooking time a nd fat content than raw brown rice. On the contrary, brown rice gave the lower hardness values than QCBR products . For making and p redicting, f ive different drying mathematical models (Lewis, Page, Henderson and Pabis, Modified Page and Two - term) were co mpared with statistical parameters and regression coefficient. Page model (MR = exp( - kt n ) gave the highest R 2 , the lowest of and RMSE and Page model was given the best fit curves than other models of fluidized bed drying methods. The Henderson and Pabis ( MR = a exp( - k t)) provided the the highest R 2 , the lowest of and RMSE and Henderson and Pabis model was good fit curves than other models of hot air drying methods. For the study of the effect of packaging conditions, Q CBR packed in aluminum foil with vacuum condition can maintain the qualities of QCBR distinctively such as less changing in yellowness, cooking time, fat content and off aroma score. On the contrary, QCBR stored in PE bags and non vacuum form gave the bad effect on the product. However, the results were not significantly different (P>0.05) between QCBR packed in PE bags with vacuum form and QCBR packed in Aluminum foil with non - vacuum form. |