Brown rice having increased contents of functional components and method for manufacturing the same

Abstract

By use of a device having a construction similar to that of a grain dryer, high-humidity air is applied to brown rice that is being transferred in a circulating manner through the device, the moisture of the brown rice is increased at water addition rates of 0.1 to 0.3%/hour in the range of 16.5 to 18.5% and the brown rice is thereafter left at rest in the device, in a state where blowing of air and circulated transfer of the brown rice are stopped. As a result, the functional component of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) contained in the brown rice is increased.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above-described object, other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a flow chart that shows a method for increasing the functional components contained in brown rice;

FIG. 2 is a partially broken, schematic front view of a water adding and drying device that carries out a method for the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a partially broken, schematic side view of the water adding and drying device shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows the cross-sectional view of a water adding and drying part of the water adding and drying device shown in FIG. 2 and explains flows of moistened air and hot air;

FIG. 5 is a control block diagram of the water adding and drying device that carries out a method according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram that shows the construction of a device for manufacturing rice with germs, which is used to polish function-enriched brown rice into rice with germs;

FIG. 7 is a partial longitudinal sectional view of a abrasive type rice milling machine constituting the device for manufacturing rice with germs of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a diagram that shows a manufacturing method for clean washed rice.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing brown rice having increased contents of functional components, comprising the steps of: adding water to brown rice that is being transferred in a circulating manner;leaving the brown rice at rest after completion of the adding of water in a state where the circulated transfer of the brown rice and blowing of air are stopped; anddrying the brown rice after leaving the brown rice at rest;wherein, in the step of adding water to brown rice, water addition is preformed at water addition rates of not more than 0.3% per hour by blowing high-humidity air so that the moisture of the brown rice rises in the range of 16.5 to 18.5%.

2. The method for manufacturing brown rice having increased contents of functional components according to claim 1, wherein, in the step of adding water to brown rice, the volume of air for blowing the brown rice is 0.2 to 0.6 m3/second ton.

3. The method for manufacturing brown rice having increased contents of functional components according to claim 1, wherein, in the step of leaving the brown rice at rest, the time required for leaving the brown rice at rest is 2 to 25 hours.

4. Brown rice having increased contents of functional components that is manufactured by the manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. Partially-milled rice, rice with germs or white rice each having increased contents of functional components that are obtained by polishing the brown rice according to claim 4.

6. Clean washed partially-milled rice, clean washed rice with germs or clean washed rsyice each having increased contents of functional components that are respectively obtained by processing the partially-milled rice, rice with germs or white rice according to claim 5 to clean washed rice.