쌀가루를 이용한 영유아용 팽화스낵 가공 적성 연구

Wheat is widely used in food industry because of its low price, convenience, protein-rich resource, easy processibility, and so on. However, people who have wheat-gluten allergy need gluten-free products. Especially, gluten-free products are desirable to early childhood even though they may or may not be sensitive to wheat-gluten. As the alternative of wheat flour, recently, rice flour is gaining popularity. Hence, we developed the puffed rice snack for the baby. In order to prepare for rice extrudate, 1 kg rice flour, 450 g water, and 6 g salt were mixed together and then steamed for 1 hr. The rice extrudate was shredded into pieces (0.5 cm×0.5 cm) and dried up to 4.5% moisture content. The dried rice shreds were puffed at 257°C in a puffing machine. The puffed rice snack was oval-shaped having thickness of 0.5 cm, white in color with brown flakes. Appearance and texture of the puffed rice snacks were evaluated by the measurement of the texture, isothermal water absorption, expansion, and the color. Puffed rice was more porous, because rice increased up to about two times larger than its original volume. Texture of the rice puffing snack was suitable for early childhood. Rice puffing snack showed potentials including soft, low-allergenic, and easily digestible properties. It is concluded that rice puffing snack has potential in the food markets for early childhood.