Effect of Cold Plasma Treatment on Cooking, Thermomechanical and Surface Structural Properties of Chinese Milled Rice

Cold plasma (CP) treatment for enhancing functional and cooking properties has been investigated on less rice varieties and delays the industrial adoption of this technology. This study treated three types (short-, medium-, and long-kernel) of milled rice from six Chinese varieties with helium plasma (Radio frequency, 13.56 MHz, 140 Pa) at a combination of watt and time, and evaluated the cooking properties, cooked rice texture, kernel appearance quality, and surface morphology, as well as flour thermal and thermomechanical properties. CP treatment at 120 W for 20 s significantly decreased the cooking time and the hardness of cooked rice while increasing adhesiveness, elasticity, and gruel solid loss. CP did not significantly change the appearance of milled rice, except for chalky rice rate, and kept the peak temperature and enthalpy of gelatinization in rice flour. 120W–20s CP significantly increased rice dough development and stability time, starch gelatinization maximum torque, and starch breakdown, but decreased the stability of protein network and starch retrogradation. As CP power strength increased from 120 to 520 W; the surface rupture of a rice kernel became more severe, and small particles aggregated on the rough surface. Compared with the 0 h sample of 120W–20s CP treatment, the repeating CP treatments at 24 h, 48 h, and 30 d significantly decreased water contact angle and free fatty acid content, but increased water absorption rate and chalky rice rate. These results suggest that 120W–20s helium CP improved the cooking properties of milled rice via leading to the rough kernel surface, higher water absorption rate, weak protein network, and a higher speed of starch gelatinization.