Abstract: Objective: This study aimed to understand the difference in the quality of fresh rice noodles processed from rice with different storage times, so as to provide a basis for the selection of raw materials for fresh rice noodles. Methods: Totally 40 samples of indica rice and 40 samples of japonica rice with different storage times were selected to process fresh rice noodles, which were then tested for cooking loss rate, the rate of broken noodles during cooking, sensory score and texture parameters. Further, descriptive statistical analysis, analysis of variance, principal component analysis and cluster analysis were used to explore the processing quality of the two kinds of rice. Results: With the prolongation of storage time, the cooking loss rate of indica rice noodles showed a gradually decreasing trend, while that of japonica rice noodles showed a trend of first declining and then rising. For both rice types, the rate of broken noodles during cooking decreased first and then increased, the color and odor of rice noodles showed a decreasing trend, while the appearance, chewiness, smoothness, and total sensory score increased first and then decreased. The sensory quality of indica rice noodles was better than that of japonica rice noodles. The hardness and chewiness of both kinds of rice noodles showed an upward trend, reaching a significant level when the storage time was 4 years (P < 0.05), and the stickiness also showed an upward trend. There was no significant change in other texture indexes. Through cluster analysis, the quality of rice noodles was classified into three grades, and statistical analysis of the number of samples in each storage year demonstrated that indica rice was more suitable for fresh wet rice noodle processing than japonica rice, and the quality of noodles processed from indica rice stored for 3 years was the best.

Key words: rice; fresh rice noodles; cooking property; eating quality; raw material suitability