Chemical, Physical, Textural and Sensory Evaluation on Italian Rice Varieties

Abstract

The characterization of ten Italian rice varieties has been carried out by chemical analysis which requires the use of more or less sophisticated equipment and of technicians trained to the application of analytical methods. Beside this type of analysis, defined as “traditional”, it is carried out a descriptive evaluation of the samples from a sensory point of view. Descriptive analysis is a new experience in the evaluation of Italian rice that allows describing and quantifying the sensory properties of the different varieties. As with traditional analysis the calibration of instruments is fundamental and the choice of the adequate analytical method, so the equipment for sensory analysis is the basic choice of assessors who will be part of the panel and their training. Ten heterogeneous varieties of Italian rice have been characterized both from a traditional point of view, namely, chemical, physical and textural (length and width, gel-time, resistance to extrusion, stickiness, amylose content), and sensory, involving a panel of selected, chosen and trained tasters. The analytical data will then be compared in order to bring out similarities and differences. It appears that there is agreement between the sensory analysis and the chemical physical and textural characterization of milled rice. The sensory characterization undoubtedly provides a more complete and accurate information information than the instrumental one.