Mutual Relations between Texture and Aroma of Cooked Rice—A Pilot Study

Texture and aroma are two important attributes for the eating quality of cooked rice, but their mutual relations are not clear. Cooked rice with a desirable texture might suffer from a deteriorated aroma property. To better understand the relations between texture and aroma, six different rice varieties with desirable eating qualities have been selected, with their texture and aroma profile characterized by a texture analyzer and gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry, respectively. A large variance of textural attributes and a total number of 39 major volatile organic components were observed for these cooked rice varieties. Pearson correlation showed that the hardness of cooked rice was positively correlated with the content of E-2-hexenal, 2-hexanol-monomer, 1-propanol, and E-2-pentenal, while stickiness was positively correlated with 5-methyl-2-furanmethanol and dimethyl trisulfide. Possible underneath mechanisms were discussed for these relations. These results could help the rice industry to develop rice products with both desirable texture and aroma property.