Development of Well-reconstituted Instantized Thin Rice Gruel

Instantized thin gruels have been popular to supplement patients who want nutritional, ready-to-eat, and easy-to-use products. In this study, rice-based thin gruels were developed by use of gelatinized rice powder which was manufactured by extrudating rice in a twin-screw extruder. Subsequently, the rice paste from the extruder were dried and ground into fine powder. The gelatinized rice powder was mixed with the powders of various grains, soy beans, nuts, oil seeds, and vegetables to formulate the instantized thin rice gruel with well-balanced nutrients (mixed powder). The mixed powder was granulated to improve reconstitution capability in a fluid bed spray granulator (granulated powder). Lipid and protein contents were higher by 0.9 and 1.9%, respectively, in the granulated powder whereas carbohydrate content was higher by 3.2% in the mixed powder. The calculated dispersibility was 93.7 and 77.0% for the granulated and the mixed powders, respectively. The reconstitution time was 122.3 and 305.3 for the granulated and the mixed powders, respectively. In conclusion, the granulation of the mixed powder improved the dispersibility. This study will be helpful to develop a variety of processed rice products and promote rice process industry.