Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 72 (2021) 102757

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Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ifset

Influence of ohmic heating on the electrical conductivity, volume, and rice

quality of each component of the water–rice mixture
Xinting Ding a, Jiakai Liu a, Xiufang Xiong a, Shaojin Wang a, b, Xingshu Li a, *
a
College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
b
Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, 213 L, J. Smith Hall, Pullman, WA 99164-6120, USA

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Ohmic heating (OH) is a new heating method with high electrothermal conversion, simple equipment, high
Electrical conductivity accuracy of temperature control, and rapid heating. It is used in cooking rice. This study aimed to investigate the
Equivalent circuit effects of OH on the expansion behavior of rice grains, changes in the electrical conductivity (EC) of each
Ohmic heating
component, temperature, and quality at different heating rates (3 ◦ C/min, 6 ◦ C/min, and 9 ◦ C/min). The EC of
Rice
the rice grains was calculated using the equivalent circuit method. The results showed that the total volume of
the water–rice mixture did not change significantly during the heating stage of OH cooking of rice. The volume
and the proportion of rice in the water–rice mixed layer increased slowly before 62.5 ◦ C and then rapidly after
that. The EC of the water layer rice soaking water was lower than that of the water–rice mixed layer rice soaking
water. The regression models of the volume of the water–rice mixed layer, the proportion of rice in the mixed
layer, and the EC of each component were established. Besides, the internal temperature distribution was uneven
due to the difference in the EC of each part of the mixture, and the temperature gradually decreased from top to
bottom. Hence, the upper rice grains softened faster. This finding provided technical support to develop an
automatic rice cooking device with high efficiency using OH.

1. Introduction et al., 2016). At present, it is widely used in sterilization, thawing,

As an important food source for the majority of the world's popula­
tion (Jiang et al., 2020; Zhang, Xia, Li, Zhang, & Yu, 2020), rice is rich in
carbohydrates, proteins, and a variety of trace elements (Qiu et al.,
2019; Shinde, Vijayadwhaja, Pandit, & Joshi, 2014). Households often
use rice cookers to cook rice, but these cookers have problems such as
time and energy consumption and uneven heating. Some scholars used
microwave, radiofrequency, and other volume heating methods to cook
rice (Gavahian, Chu, & Farahnaky, 2019; Thuengtung & Ogawa, 2020).
Although these technologies can effectively improve the use of electric
energy, they also have certain disadvantages such as high equipment
cost, poor safety, and high failure rate, which limit their further pro­
motion and application.
Ohmic heating (OH) is also known as electric heating. When the
current passes through the conductive material, the internal tempera­
ture of the material increases due to the Joule effect, that is the con­
version of electrical energy into thermal energy. OH has the advantages
of high electrothermal efficiency, simple structure, easy control of
equipment, and uniform and rapid heating (Mannozzi et al., 2018; Roux
extraction, purification, and other fields (Icier, Yildiz, Sabanci, Cevik, &
Cokgezme, 2017; Li, Li, Li, & Tatsumi, 2004; Mannozzi et al., 2018;
Mesias, Wagner, George, & Morales, 2016). Recently, some scholars
used OH to cook grains and found that the textural properties of the
foods were not significantly different compared with those achieved
using the traditional cooking methods. At the same time, OH cooking
accelerated grain softening and reduced energy consumption, which had
great advantages in grain cooking (Dias-Martins et al., 2019; Gavahian
et al., 2019; Jittanit et al., 2017). Electrical conductivity (EC) is the
critical parameter directly affecting the OH process and the heat gen­
eration in foods. However, its EC cannot be measured directly by some
instruments because of the mixing of the soaking water and the rice, as
well as due to the small size, large curvature, and irregular shape of the
rice grain. Therefore, the equivalent circuit method was used to simulate
and analyze the EC of each component of the water–rice mixture cooked
by OH so as to calculate the EC of the rice grains indirectly (Kanjana­
pongkul, 2017). In the study, it was assumed that the EC of the rice
soaking water was the same in different parts, and the rice soaking water
and the rice in the lower layer of the water–rice mixture accounted for

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: xingshu-li@nwsuaf.edu.cn (X. Li).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifset.2021.102757
Received 15 May 2021; Received in revised form 4 July 2021; Accepted 5 July 2021
Available online 8 July 2021
1466-8564/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
X. Ding et al.
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of ohmic heating experimental system for
rice cooking.
half each. However, these hypotheses were contrary to the results of the
preliminary experiment. In addition, the heating rate had a great in­
fluence on the volume and EC of the water–rice mixture. Therefore, it
was necessary to measure and infer the EC of each component of the OH
cooking of rice more comprehensively and accurately. Most of the
existing OH rice cooking devices adopt constant-voltage heating. As the
temperature increased, the EC of the water–rice mixture increased, and
the heating rate inevitably became larger. However, the heating rate was
an important factor that affected the quality of rice (Ling Zhu et al.,
2020), but it was difficult to obtain a constant heating rate for cooking
rice with constant voltage.
Therefore, the objectives of this study were to (1) use a self-
developed OH experimental system that can achieve a constant heat­
ing rate to cook rice, and measure the EC of each component of the
water–rice mixture during the rice cooking process at different heating
rates; (2) calculate the EC of rice grains by the equivalent circuit
method, which was an improved experimental method from Kanjana­
pongkul (2017), and fit the EC regression model to provide electrical
characteristic reference for the computer simulation analysis of OH
cooking of rice; and (3) analyze the changes in rice quality and tem­
perature during the cooking process and provide technical support for
the development of OH experimental system.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Material and sample preparation
Milled Japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.) was produced by Yihai Kerry
Arawana Holdings Corporation (Jinlongyu, Panjin City, China) pur­
chased from a local market, and the average initial moisture content was
11.86 ± 0.16 g/100 g wet basis (w.b.). The gelatinization temperature of
the rice was 72.9 ± 5.2 ◦ C, which determined by using the Chinese
National Standard Method (GB/T 24852, 2010). The average length,
width, and thickness of the rice grains were 4.73 ± 0.32 mm, 2.81 ±
0.24 mm, and 2.01 ± 0.16 mm, respectively. The packaged rice samples
in original sealed plastic bags were stored at 3 ± 1 ◦ C with 48% ± 0.5%
relative humidity in a refrigerator until testing (Liu & Wang, 2019). Tap
water was used in this study because it is generally used in cooking rice.
Then, 30 L of tap water whose EC was 162.37 ± 8.41 μS/cm at 25 ◦ C was
stored in a container for all tests.
Further, 100 g rice was soaked in 150 mL of tap water (water–rice
ratio (mL/g) was 1.5:1) at room temperature (Zhu et al., 2020). The
water–rice mixture was cooked after soaking for 30 min (GB/T 15682,
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Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 72 (2021) 102757
Fig. 2. OH vessel structure and material height measurement.
2008).
2.2. OH experimental system for rice cooking
The OH experimental system shown in Fig. 1 consisted of a control
system, an OH vessel, and a personal computer (ZX6-CP5S1, Hasee
Group Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China). The control system included MCU
(Micro Control Unit, STC12C5A60S2, Hongjing Technology Co., Ltd.,
Shenzhen, China), data acquisition module, and voltage regulator
module. The data acquisition module collected voltage, current, and
temperature data using voltage acquisition circuit (DL-PT202H1,
Xiangshang Electronics Co., Ltd., Nanjing, China), current acquisition
circuit (DL-CT1010A, Xiangshang Electronics Co., Ltd.), and tempera­
ture sensor circuit (WRCK-191, Wolan Instrument Co., Ltd., Shanghai,
China). A feedforward compensator was used to control the heating rate,
while a PID (Proportion Integral Differential) controller was used to
control the heat preservation temperature. PWM (pulse width modula­
tion) signals were output with different duty cycles to adjust the output
voltage, achieving the purposes of constant heating rate and heat pres­
ervation temperature.
The OH vessel structure and material height measurement are pre­
sented in Fig. 2. Three temperature sensors were located at the center of
the water layer (recorded as the water layer temperature, shown in Fig. 2
point A), the center of the water–rice mixed layer (recorded as the
water–rice mixed layer temperature, shown in Fig. 2 point B), and the
center of the water–rice mixture (recorded as the central temperature,
shown in Fig. 2 point C). The OH vessel was welded with a transparent
heat-resistant Plexiglass with a thickness of 5 mm to observe the
expansion of rice grains during the OH cooking process (Derde, Gomand,
Courtin, & Delcour, 2014). A pair of stainless steel plate electrodes with
a thickness of 1 mm were installed on both sides of the vessel. The in­
ternal dimensions of the vessel are 75 × 80 × 70 mm3. A transparent
ruler was pasted on one side of the vessel, and a camera was used to
record the height change of the water–rice mixture during the cooking
process. The upper end of the vessel was covered with a foam board with
a rubber gasket during the test to keep it warm and prevent the evap­
oration of water during the cooking process. The surfaces were pasted
with an insulation sponge with a thickness of 10 mm.
The height of the water–rice mixture was recorded with the tem­
perature change during the cooking process with OH. The EC, σ (μS
cm− 1) of the water–rice mixture was calculated using Eq. (1) (Liu et al.,
2017):
i(T) L
σ= ⋅ (1)
u(T) WH(T)
where i(T) is the current (A) that flows through the sample at temper­
ature T, u(T) is the applied voltage (V) across the faces at temperature T,
L is the length (cm) of the sample, W is the width (cm) of the electrode
X. Ding et al.
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of water–rice mixtures for cooking rice and equiv­
alent electrical model by OH.
plate, and H(T) is the overall height (cm) of the water–rice mixture at
temperature T.
2.3. Determination of the EC of the rice soaking water
The rice soaking water occupied a large proportion of the mixture
when cooking rice with OH. The EC of rice soaking water affected the
OH process, and it gradually changed with heating time and heating
temperature. An EC meter (DDSJ-308A, INESA Scientific Instrument
Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China) equipped with DJS-1C platinum black elec­
trode was used to measure the EC of the rice soaking water in the water
layer and the water–rice mixed layer.
Specific measurement methods were as follows. The water–rice
mixture was heated from 25 ◦ C, and the EC was measured every time the
center temperature increased by 12.5 ◦ C until it was heated at 85 ◦ C and
finally at 95 ◦ C (the boiling temperature). A medical syringe was used to
gently suck out the rice soaking water as samples from the water layer
(shown in Fig. 2, water layer) and the water–rice mixed layer (shown in
Fig. 2, water–ice mixed layer). The samples were stored in 10 mL
centrifuge tubes and put in the water bath temperature corresponding to
the temperature of the water layer and the temperature of the water–rice
mixed layer. The EC of the samples was measured after the temperature
was stable. The EC of the rice soaking water in the water layer was
recorded as σ w, and the EC of the rice soaking water in the water–rice
mixed layer was recorded as σ m-w. After the EC measurement, the con­
ductivity electrode and the thermometer probe were cleaned with
deionized water and wiped with an absorbent paper for the subsequent
measurement.
2.4. Determination of the hardness of rice
A texture analyzer (TA-XTC, BosinTech Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China)
was used to examine the hardness of cooked rice samples so as to analyze
the influence of the heating rate and heating temperature on rice quality.
The upper and lower samples of rice cooked under different conditions
were about 10 g each; they were put into a sealed bag and quickly cooled
to 25 ◦ C. When testing the hardness of rice, four complete rice samples
were placed in the center of the texture analyzer's stage in a cross shape.
A hardness test was conducted; the compression plate with a diameter of
36 mm was used to compress the samples to 70% of their original height.
The crosshead pretest speed was set at 3 mm/s, while the test speed and
post-test speed were set at 1 mm/s with a triggering force of 5 g (Miao,
Wang, Xu, & Pan, 2016). The hardness test of the rice sample under each
condition was performed six times.
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Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 72 (2021) 102757
2.5. Statistical analysis
The mean values and standard deviations were calculated based on
three independent replicates for all treatments. The basic statistical
analysis of the data was performed using Microsoft Excel software. The
analysis of variance was carried out using professional statistical anal­
ysis software, Design Expert (Version 11, Stat-Ease Inc., Minneapolis,
USA), in which the regression equations were obtained using a good fit
with minimum deviation.
3. Equivalent electrical model for EC estimation
3.1. Establishment of a geometric model of water–rice mixture
Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of the water–rice mixture for
cooking rice with OH. The rice grains were deposited in the lower part of
the heating vessel due to gravity. Therefore, the water–rice mixture
could be regarded as the upper water layer and the lower water–rice
mixed layer. In addition, the rice grains gradually absorbed water and
expanded when heated. Therefore, the cross-sectional areas (CSA) of the
rice and water in this layer were thus estimated as follows:
V(T) = H(T)⋅W⋅L (2)
Sw (T) = [H(T) − Hm (T) ]⋅W (3)
Sm (T) = Hm (T)⋅W (4)
where V(T) is the total volume (cm3) of the water–rice mixture at tem­
perature T. Sw(T) and Sm(T) are CSA (cm2) of the water layer and the
water–rice mixed layer at temperature T, respectively.
Since the water–rice mixing layer was mixed with rice grains and the
rice soaking water at the bottom, the water–rice volume ratio of the
water–rice mixed layer was measured during every heating period. After
all the water was absorbed with an absorbent paper and the rice grains
were cooled, tap water was quickly added to fill the gaps in the rice
grains. The measured amount of water added was Vm-w(T). Therefore,
the rice ratio β(T) of the water–rice mixed layer at temperature T was
Vm (T) − Vm− w (T) Hm (T)⋅W⋅L − Vm− w (T)
β(T) = = (5)
Vm (T) Hm (T)⋅W⋅L
where Vm(T) is the volume (cm3) of water–rice mixed layer at temper­
ature T, and Hm(T) is the height (cm) of water–rice mixed layer at
temperature T.
According to the measured ratio of rice in the water–rice mixed
layer, it was assumed that the contact area of the rice and water in
contact with the electrode plate in the water–rice mixed layer was Sr(T)
and Sm-w(T), respectively.
Sr (T) = Sm (T)⋅β(T) (6)
Sm− w (T) = Sm (T)⋅[1 − β(T) ] (7)
3.2. Equivalent model of parallel circuit
The water–rice mixture between the electrode plates was composed
of the water layer and the water–rice mixed layer comprising rice and
water. Therefore, the parallel circuit equivalent model, as shown in
Fig. 3, was established (Zhu, Zareifard, Chen, Marcotte, & Grabowski,
2010). In other words, the equivalent resistance of the water layer (Rw)
was connected in parallel with the equivalent resistance (Rm) of the
water–rice mixed layer. Meanwhile, the equivalent resistance of the
water–rice mixed layer is composed of the rice equivalent resistance (Rr)
and the water equivalent resistance (Rm-w) of the water–rice mixed layer.
The total resistance (R) of the parallel circuit was calculated as follows:
X. Ding et al. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 72 (2021) 102757

Fig. 4. Central temperature change curves of water–rice mixtures when cook­ Fig. 5. Volume changes in water and rice in the water–rice mixtures during
ing rice by OH. ohmic cooking rice (square ■: 3 ◦ C/min; round ●: 6 ◦ C/min; triangle ▴: 9 ◦ C/
min; solid ■: total volume of water–rice mixtures; hollow □: total volume of
water–rice mixed layer).
1 1 1 1 1 1
= + = + + (8)
R(T) Rw (T) Rm (T) Rw (T) Rr (T) Rm− w (T)
temperature increase at the center of the water–rice mixtures was
1 H(T)⋅W 3.01 ◦ C/min, 6.07 ◦ C/min, and 9.17 ◦ C/min, and the R2 was >0.9995. In
= σ (T)⋅ (9) other words, the temperature changes in the water–rice mixtures met
R(T) L
the requirements of constant-rate heating of 3 ◦ C/min, 6 ◦ C/min, and
1 Sw (T) 9 ◦ C/min.
= σ w (T)⋅ (10)
Rw (T) L
4.1.2. Effect of the OH rate on the volumes of water–rice mixture and
1 Sr (T) water–rice mixed layer
= σr (T)⋅ (11)
Rr (T) L Fig. 5 shows the volume change in water and rice in the water–rice
mixtures during the OH cooking of rice. Before the central temperature
1 Sm− w (T) of the water–rice mixture rose to 40 ◦ C, the volume of the water–rice
= σ m− w (T)⋅ (12)
Rm− w (T) L mixed layer hardly changed. As the temperature continued to rise, the
volume of the water–rice mixed layer and the growth rate increased.
Using the aforementioned formula, all parameters except the EC of
However, the smaller the heating rate, the larger the volume of the
the rice grains could be obtained. Therefore, this method was used to
water–rice mixed layer when heated to a certain temperature. This was
calculate the relationship between the EC of rice grains and the cooking
because when the temperature was lower than 40 ◦ C, the rice grains
temperature during the OH process.
would absorb water slowly and the expansion of rice grains was not

3.3. Model validation

The EC of rice grains was difficult to verify by instrumental mea­

surement because they were small solid particles with irregular shapes.
Therefore, the EC test values of the water–rice mixtures σe(T) with the
water–rice ratio of 1.2:1 and 1.8:1 were determined using Eq. (1). At the
same time, the ECs of the rice soaking water in the water layer σ w(T) and
in the mixed layer σ m-w(T) were measured when the water–rice mixture
was at 25 ◦ C, 40 ◦ C, 55 ◦ C, 70 ◦ C, 85 ◦ C, and 95 ◦ C. The EC of rice grains
σ r(T) was calculated using Eqs. (8)–(12). The predicted EC of the
water–rice mixture σp(T) with a water–rice ratio of 1.2:1 and 1.8:1 could
be obtained indirectly
Hm (T)
σ p (T) = σw (T) + {-σw (T) + σr(T)⋅β(T) + σm− w (T)⋅[1 − β(T) ] }⋅
H(T)
(13)

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Effect of the OH rate on the expansion process of rice grains

Fig. 6. Changes in the percentage of rice and CSA of water and rice in the
4.1.1. OH rate water–rice mixtures during OH cooking of rice (square ■: 3 ◦ C/min; round ●:
Fig. 4 shows the central temperature change curves of the water–rice 6 ◦ C/min; triangle ▴: 9 ◦ C/min; solid ■: percentage of rice; hollow □: CSA of
mixtures when cooking rice by OH. The results showed that the rate of rice grains; cross : CSA of water).

4
X. Ding et al.
Fig. 7. Changes in EC of water–rice mixtures and rice soaking water, water­
–rice mixed layer (green: 9 ◦ C/min; red: 6 ◦ C/min; blue: 3 ◦ C/min; ■:water­
–rice mixtures (σ M); ▴: rice soaking water of water–rice mixed layer (σ m-w); ●:
rice soaking water of water layer (σw); ★: water–rice mixed layer (σm)) during
OH cooking of rice. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure
legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
obvious, and hence the volume change in the water–rice mixed layer
was also not obvious. As the temperature rose, the molecular activity
increased, causing the rice grains to absorb water and expand violently.
Especially when it reached 60 ◦ C–70 ◦ C, which was the gelatinization
temperature of rice grains (Zhang et al., 2017; Zhu et al., 2020), the
hydrogen bond of the rice grains broke, the starch structure became
loose (Kong, Zhu, Sui, & Bao, 2015), the volume of the rice grains
increased rapidly, and the volume of the water–rice mixed layer also
increased rapidly. When the heating rate was low, the water absorption
time of the rice grains was longer, and therefore the rice grains absorbed
water and gelatinized more fully, the expansion was more obvious, and
the volume of the water–rice mixed layer was larger.
For the whole water–rice mixture, its volume was almost unchanged
before being heated to 85 ◦ C, and the total volume increased slightly at
95 ◦ C. However, Kanjanapongkul (2017) once added excessive water to
cook rice and found that the total volume of the water–rice mixture did
not change. It was presumed to be related to the boiling of the liquid,
that is, a few bubbles were found in the water–rice mixture.
4.1.3. Effect of the OH rate on the proportion of rice in the water–rice
mixed layer
Fig. 6 shows the change in the percentage of rice and CSA of water
and rice in the water–rice mixtures during the OH cooking of rice. The
results showed that the changing trend of the proportion of rice in the
water–rice mixed layer was similar to the volume change in the water­
–rice mixed layer.
4.2. Change in the EC of each component during OH
Fig. 7 shows the EC of water–rice mixtures, rice soaking water, and
water–rice mixed layer at different heating rates.
During the OH process of cooking rice, the EC of the water–rice
mixture (σ M) and the rice soaking water of each layer (σ w and σm-w)
increased with the temperature at the same heating rate. The EC of the
water–rice mixture (σ M) was less than the EC of the rice soaking water
(σ w and σ m-w)), and the EC of the water layer of rice soaking water (σw)
was less than that of the water–rice mixed layer (σ m-w). This was because
the EC became larger due to the increase in temperature (Zhu, Guo, Jia,
& Kang, 2015), and the expansion of the rice grains promoted the release
of conductive substances inside them into the water (Kanjanapongkul,
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Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 72 (2021) 102757
Fig. 8. Changes in EC of rice during OH cooking of rice.
2017), increasing the EC of the water–rice mixture and the rice soaking
water. The rice grains were deposited in the lower part of the heating
vessel. The released conductive substances were mainly concentrated in
the rice soaking water of the water–rice mixed layer, and part of it was
freed to the water layer. Therefore, the EC of the water layer of rice
soaking water was lower than that of the water–rice mixed layer.
For the EC of the water–rice mixture and the water layer at different
heating rates, the slower the heating rate, the greater the EC at the same
temperature. The reason for this phenomenon was similar to the
expansion behavior of rice grains. Both were due to the slower heating
rate; the longer the heating time, the higher the degree of gelatinization
of rice grains and the more conductive the substances released into the
water.
The EC of rice grains estimated from Eqs. (8) to (12) is shown in
Fig. 8. The EC of rice grains had a significant transition at 62.5 ◦ C; that is,
the EC increased slowly before 62.5 ◦ C with a little difference in EC
between different heating rates. After 62.5 ◦ C, the EC increased rapidly
with the temperature. The slower the heating rate, the faster the EC of
rice grains increased. The change curve of the EC of rice grains was
similar to the expansion behavior of rice grains; that is, the rice grains
mainly existed in the form of a hard solid before 62.5 ◦ C, and their EC
was very low. After 62.5 ◦ C, the rice grains were gelatinized, the texture
became soft, and moisture entered, enhancing the EC of the rice grains.
4.3. Regression models of the volume of the water–rice mixed layer, the
proportion of rice, and the EC of each component
Eqs. 13–17 are the fitted multiple regression equations of the volume
V (cm3) of the water–rice mixed layer, its proportion P (%) of rice, the EC
σ (μS/cm) of each component at the temperature T (25 ◦ C–95 C), and the
heating rate v (3 ◦ C/min to 9 ◦ C/min). After comparison, it was
concluded that the regression model was the most suitable to use a
quadratic polynomial equation
V = 134.93 + 3.43v–0.87 T–0.09vT + 0.02v2 + 0.02 T 2 (14)
P = 61.60 + 0.48v–0.30 T–0.03vT + 0.05v2 + 0.01 T 2 (15)
σ r = 69.64 + 20.93v–8.34 T–0.67vT + 0.28v2 + 0.19 T 2 (16)
σ w = 127.33 + 6.67v–11.25 T–0.24vT + 0.78v2 + 0.04 T 2 (17)
σ m− = − 107.33 + 6.02v + 24.58 T–0.50vT + 0.49v2 –0.05T 2 (18)
w
Table 1 shows the analysis of variance of the regression equation and
the reliability analysis of the regression equation. The quadratic term of
X. Ding et al. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 72 (2021) 102757

Table 1
Analysis of variance and reliability analysis of regression equation.
Volume of water–rice mixed Rice proportion of water–rice EC of rice (Eq. (15)) EC of rice soaking water in EC of rice soaking water in
layer (Eq. (13)) mixed layer (Eq. (14)) water layer (Eq. (16)) water–rice mixed layer (Eq. (17))

F P F P F P F P F P

v 26.94 <0.0001** 81.80 <0.0001** 39.37 <0.0001** 0.3702 0.5486 109.52 <0.0001**
t 702.61 <0.0001** 1459.12 <0.0001** 1441.77 <0.0001** 3022.79 <0.0001** 6940.69 <0.0001**
vt 35.79 <0.0001** 76.37 <0.0001** 33.76 <0.0001** 4.69 0.0405* 40.22 <0.0001**
v2 0.0079 0.9300 1.32 0.2617 0.0372 0.8487 0.3015 0.5880 0.2386 0.6296
t2 117.52 <0.0001** 264.54 <0.0001** 185.24 <0.0001** 10.16 0.0040** 22.23 <0.0001**
Model 171.48 <0.0001** 365.39 <0.0001** 331.27 <0.0001** 605.81 <0.0001** 1430.52 <0.0001**
R2 0.9728 0.9870 0.9857 0.9921 0.9967
Adjusted R2 0.9671 0.9843 0.9827 0.9905 0.9959
C.V./% 2.88 1.46 14.12 3.45 2.23
Adeq Precision 44.1020 64.1113 58.7628 75.1200 119.3141

Note: *Means significant difference (P < 0.05); **means extremely significant difference (P < 0.01).

Fig. 9. Correlation between the experimental and predicted values of EC of the

water–rice mixtures (square ■: 3 ◦ C/min; round ●: 6 ◦ C/min; triangle ▴: 9 ◦ C/
min; solid ■: water–rice ratio 1.2:1; hollow □: water–rice ratio 1.5:1; cross :
water–rice ratio 1.8:1).
2
heating rate (v ) had no significant effect on all models, and the first
degree of heating rate (v) had no effect on the EC model of the rice
soaking water of the water layer. However, the P values of the five
models were all less than 0.0001, indicating that the regression model
was highly significant. The coefficient of variation (C.V.) was less than
15%, indicating that the degree of data dispersion was low, which was of
analytical significance. The adjusted determination coefficient (adjusted
R2) was greater than 0.8, indicating that the fitting degree of the
regression model was good. Precision is the ratio of effective signal to
noise, and it should be greater than 4 generally. The precision of this test
was greater than 4. The aforementioned analysis showed that these
equations could predict the volume of the water–rice mixed layer and its
proportion of rice, as well as the EC of the rice grains, water layer, and
water–rice mixed layer. Therefore, the aforementioned equation had a
certain reference value for the future computer simulation of the OH
cooking of rice (Zhou, Li, Lyng, & Wang, 2018).
4.4. EC verification
The water–rice mixtures with a water–rice ratio of 1.2:1 and 1.8:1
were tested for the OH cooking of rice. The results showed that when the
water level was higher than the rice layer, the volume of the water–rice
mixed layer and the ratio of rice change were similar to those at 1.5:1,
which was the same as previous findings (Kanjanapongkul, 2017).
Fig. 10. Temperature differences at different locations of the water­
–rice mixtures.
However, when the water–rice ratio was 1.2:1, the water level was lower
than the rice layer after heating to 85 ◦ C due to less water. As a result,
the volume of the water–rice mixture and the ratio of rice were slightly
lower and higher than the water–rice ratio of 1.5:1, respectively.
Therefore, it was believed that the volume of the water–rice mixed layer
and the proportion of rice were not affected by the water–rice ratio, that
is, β(T) and Hm(T) in Eq. (13) remain unchanged. The total height H(T)
of the water–rice mixture with water–rice ratio of 1.2:1 and 1.8:1 was
about 3.1 cm and 4.1 cm before boiling, respectively.
Fig. 9 shows the plot between the experimental values σe(T) and
predicted values σ p(T) of the mixture's EC. The discrepancies between
the predicted values and the experimental values of the EC were mostly
less than 5%, indicating that the predicted values of the EC had a strong
correlation with the experimental values. When the temperature of the
water–rice mixture was high, the discrepancies were about 6%–9.5%,
which might be due to boiling. In addition, OH had uneven temperature
distribution with high center temperature and low ambient temperature.
Especially when the temperature was high, the temperature difference
between inside and outside was large, making the measured EC of the
rice soaking water slightly larger than the actual value. Therefore, the
predicted value of EC of the water–rice mixture was greater than its
experimental value. However, the predicted values of the EC of each
component in the water–rice mixture obtained by the parallel model
were more reliable.

6
X. Ding et al.
Fig. 11. Changes in rice hardness at different parts with OH temperature at 3 ◦ C/min (a), 6 ◦ C/min (b), and 9 ◦ C/min (c).
4.5. Influence of OH on temperature distribution and rice quality
4.5.1. Temperature change
Fig. 10 shows the temperature differences at different locations of the
water–rice mixture. In the heating stage, the temperature of the water
layer was higher than the temperature at the center of the water–rice
mixture. Also, the temperature of the water–rice mixed layer was the
lowest, that is, the temperature declined from top to bottom. In the OH
process with alternating current power supply, according to the Joule
law, the heat generated per unit time and unit volume inside the ma­
terial was.
q = σ(E)2 (19)
where q is the internal energy generation rate per volume (W/m3), σ is
EC (S/m), and E is the electric field (V/m) (Jo & Park, 2019; Wang & Wu,
1999). In this test, the water–rice mixture was in direct contact with the
electrode plate, and the voltage at different contact parts was the same,
that is, the electric field strength was the same. Hence, it was observed
that the EC of the water layer was greater than the EC of the water–rice
mixed layer. The greater the EC, the more the heat produced. Therefore,
the water layer produced more heat compared with the water–rice
mixed layer, which made the temperature of the water layer higher. The
water–rice mixed layer generated heat by itself when it was energized.
At the same time, under the effect of heat conduction, the heat was
transferred from the water layer to the water–rice mixed layer; also, the
lower part was in contact with the heating vessel, and part of the heat in
the lower part was lost to the outside world. Therefore, the temperature
of the upper part of the water–rice mixed layer was higher than the
temperature of the lower part.
4.5.2. Rice quality change
The rice grain hardness measured using the texture analyzer changed
with OH temperature, as shown in Fig. 11. The hardness of the rice
grains decreased from 120 N to about 100 N before the central tem­
perature of the water–rice mixture was increased to 70 ◦ C; the change
was not obvious. The hardness of rice grains decreased rapidly by about
45 N during the stage from 70 ◦ C to 95 ◦ C (boiling temperature). This
was because the decrease in hardness was related to the expansion of
rice grains, that is, when the temperature reached 70 ◦ C, the rice grains
absorbed water quickly and gelatinized, the volume expanded rapidly,
and the internal structure became loose (Jittanit et al., 2017).
More importantly, the upper rice grains softened significantly faster
than the lower rice grains. That is, the upper rice grains were softer and
the lower rice grains were harder when heated for the same time. This
was because the temperature of the water–rice mixture gradually
decreased from top to bottom; the higher the temperature, the faster the
rice grains absorbed water, swelled, and softened. In addition, the upper
rice grains swelled faster than the lower ones during the OH process, and
the surface of the rice grains appeared to be cotton-like earlier.
Fig. 11 shows that the slower the heating rate, the softer the rice
7
Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 72 (2021) 102757
grains would be when heated to the same temperature. The maximum
temperature difference and the temperature standard deviation of each
part were small, that is, the temperature difference between the upper
and lower parts was small, and the temperature distribution was uni­
form. Therefore, the swelling of rice grains was similar and the hardness
difference was small.
5. Conclusions
The OH rate had an impact on the expansion of rice grains and the
changes in the EC of each component, temperature, and quality. During
the heating stage of OH process of cooking rice, the total volume of the
water–rice mixture did not change significantly. The volume and the
proportion of rice of the water–rice mixed layer increased slowly before
62.5 ◦ C and then rapidly after that. The EC of the water layer rice
soaking water was lower than that of the water–rice mixed layer rice
soaking water. The EC of rice grains was derived using the parallel
equivalent circuit method. Further, the regression models of the volume
of the water–rice mixed layer, the proportion of rice in the mixed layer,
and the EC of each component were established, which provided elec­
trical characteristics reference for future computer simulations. In
addition, the internal temperature distribution was uneven due to the
difference in the EC of each part of the mixture, and the temperature
gradually decreased from top to bottom. Consequently, the upper rice
grains softened faster. The faster the whole mixture was heated, the
harder the rice grains would be. Lower ohmic heating rate (such as 3 ◦ C/
min ~ 6 ◦ C/min) can make the rice quality uniform and softer. There­
fore, OH can be considered to be an alternative method for cooking rice
to replace the traditional heating method.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare no known competing financial interests or per­
sonal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work re­
ported in this manuscript.
Acknowledgments
This study was conducted in the College of Mechanical and Elec­
tronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, and supported by
research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(Grant No. 31972209) and the Key Research and Development Programs
in Shaanxi Province of China (Grant No. 2021NY-059, Grant No.
2021NY-162). The authors would like to thank Zhi Xue and Shuwang Li
for helping to prepare the samples and conduct OH experiments.
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