Impact of corn starch content on the physicochemical properties of rice flour blends and quality of fresh wet rice noodles

This study aims to verify the modifying effect of corn starch on rice flour by constructing a rice flour-corn starch blending system, thereby providing a theoretical basis for optimizing the production process of fresh wet rice noodles. By adjusting the addition ratio of corn starch, the study systematically investigated its effects on the gel properties, rheological properties, and microstructure of the blended flour, as well as the leached content after cooking and edible quality of the prepared rice noodles. The results demonstrated that the addition of exogenous corn starch could effectively improve the quality characteristics of rice noodles. With the increase in corn starch addition, the pasting viscosity and pasting temperature of the blended flour system decreased, while the gel strength and hardness increased significantly. When the corn starch addition reached 25%, compared with the control group (without corn starch addition), the gel strength and hardness increased by 58.04% and 43.25%, respectively. Meanwhile, the shear stress, and storage modulus all exhibited an upward trend. The addition of corn starch during rice noodle production could effectively enhance the structural compactness of rice noodles. When the corn starch addition reached 20%, the short-range ordered degree of the starch structure was the highest, and the leached starch content after cooking was the lowest. Compared with the corn starch-free group, the total starch leaching decreased by 6.26%. Additionally, the rice noodles exhibited the best tensile properties, with the maximum tensile force reaching 28.36 g. Their internal network structure was more compact, and the edible quality was optimal. Therefore, the addition of corn starch at an appropriate ratio can improve the quality of fresh wet rice noodles.