ABSTRACT
Certain physicochemical properties, including chemical composition, pasting, thermal parameters, and the gel texture of flour prepared from six cultivars of Thai rice with similar high-amylose content were determined. These properties were correlated with the quality of vermicelli prepared from these flours for cooking and textural properties. Flour prepared from a Thai rice cultivar currently used for commercial production of vermicelli served as reference for these comparisons. Many similarities, but some significant differences, in the physicochemical properties were observed between the test rice flours and to the reference cultivar. Vermicelli prepared from all of the test rice flours were within an acceptable range for cooking quality but showed greater variation in textural quality. Among the physicochemical properties, gel hardness was well correlated with cooking and textural quality of vermicelli, and was useful for predicting overall vermicelli quality.
