Quality of noodles produced from rice grains attacked by rice weevils under natural conditions

Rice noodles produced from milled grains stored long-term in natural environments are particularly vulnerable to rice weevil infestation. This study evaluated the cooking and textural properties of rice noodles made from non-infested and weevil-infested rice. Milled rice from 2 cultivars were subjected to 3 storage treatments for rice noodles processed: freshly without storage, refrigerated at 4 °C for 2 years, and stored at natural conditions for 2 years, which developed weevil infestation. The study found no significant differences in cooking quality (cooked break rate, cooking loss rate, and water absorption rate) among noodles from the 3 storage treatments. However, noodles from weevil-infested rice exhibited 16%–25% higher hardness and chewiness while 1%–6% lower springiness and cohesiveness compared to those from fresh or refrigerated rice. These textural disparities were independent of the rice’s chemical composition but strongly correlated with elevated pasting properties in infested grains, including final viscosity, setback viscosity, consistency viscosity, and pasting temperature. In conclusion, the findings demonstrate that prolonged natural storage with weevil infestation unaffected the cooking quality of rice noodles, but deteriorated the textural quality of rice noodles. Refrigeration preserves texture of rice noodles comparable to fresh rice. Furthermore, pasting properties of rice flour reliably predicted noodle texture, underscoring their utility for quality assessment.