Abstract
Rice is a seasoning crop that can be grown 1 or 2 times a year so it must be stored throughout
the year after harvest. Storage condition such as temperature, humidity, and time affects rice
properties and qualities. This research investigated the effect of aged rice paddy (Chainat
1 cultivar) during various storage periods (1, 4, 12, 18, and 36 months) on physical and
chemical properties of rice flour and influences on their corresponding fresh and dried
noodle qualities. The results showed that whiteness index of rice flour decreased with
increasing storage duration. However, storage duration did not affect on solubility and
swelling power of rice flour until 18 months but decreased at 36 months. Aged rice flour
possessed higher gelatinized temperature than fresh rice flour. Peak viscosity, final viscosity,
trough viscosity, breakdown and setback decreased with storage. Whiteness index of fresh
and dried rice noodles decreased significantly (p≤0.05) in fresh noodles and dried noodles.
All dried noodles required 4 minutes to fully cooked. With the extended storage period,
water uptake of corresponding dried rice noodle tended to decrease and cooking loss
increased significantly (p≤0.05). Low water uptake ratio was related to texture of noodles
which were hard and rough. Stickiness of dried noodle was significantly increased from
0.0074±0.0050 N/mm2 (4 months) to 0.0283±0.0255 N/mm2 (36 months). However, tensile
strength decreased. The result showed that noodles produced from aged rice flour had
less resistance to break than that of fresh rice noodles. Aged rice paddy resulted in inferior
qualities of rice noodles such as color, cooking properties, and textural properties. More than
18 months storage of rice paddy was not recommended for making noodle. Milled rice flour
from long-term aged rice had certain changes in properties and influenced the consequent
rice noodle qualities.
