Physicochemical and cooking quality characteristics of South American rice cultivars parboiled at different steaming pressures

Background and objectives Six different long‐slender rice genotypes were studied, being three pure lines (Puita Inta CL, Guri CL, and Irga 424 RI) and three hybrid lines (Titan CL, Lexus CL, and Inov CL). Samples were submitted to parboiling process under different steaming pressures (0.25, 0.50, and 0.75 kgf/cm2). Findings Results were dependent on genotype instead of line cluster. Intermediate steaming pressures may be useful for five cultivars; Titan CL was the only exception. Titan CL exhibited the lowest amylose content and the highest amylopectin average chain length, gelatinization temperature, and relative crystallinity. At the intermediate parboiling level of 0.50 kgf/cm2, Titan CL exhibited 8.32% of broken grains while the others exhibited values between 2.10% and 4.72%. Conclusions Titan CL had a more stable crystalline structure that hindered water intake into starch granules. For this reason, Titan CL may be parboiled at severe steaming pressure of 0.75 kgf/cm2 in order to achieve the same extent of gelatinization and physicochemical and cooking quality than the other studied cultivars. Significance and novelty The main rice cultivars grown in South America were studied. Results may help rice industries that work with long‐slender high‐to‐intermediate‐amylose rice to select proper parboiling parameters for each cultivar.