Pulsed electric field pretreatment modifying digestion, texture, structure and flavor of rice

Pulsed electric field (PEF) is promising in food industry in modifying properties of materials. The influences of PEF pretreatment on hydrolysis, texture, multi-scale and semi-crystalline lamellar structure, thermal properties, and flavor of rice were investigated with two special treatments for high and low contents of slowly digestible starch and resistant starch, using enzymatic hydrolysis, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffractometry, small angle X-ray scattering, attenuated total-reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, texture profile analysis, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (MS)-MS. Upon PEF pretreatment, the starch hydrolysis degree and glycemic index of cooked rice increased slightly; the hardness, springiness, cohesiveness and chewiness of cooked rice increased significantly (P