Drying-cum-curing of freshly harvested high moisture paddy by roasting with hot sand.

Drying of harvested high moisture paddy under monsoon weather is a problem in some parts of India. Attempts were therefore made to dry high moisture (18-22.8%) paddy by roasting (in a commercial Gram roaster) with sand for 1-1.5 min at 95-155 degree C followed by tempering for 1.5-2 h in metal bins and finally spreading in air for cooling. Roasting with sand reduced the moisture by 5-10% but as the paddy attained 106 degree C the proportion of cracks in the grain increased, which however could be healed by tempering. Optimum results were obtained when the sand is of -25 to +44 BSS size and the paddy to sand ratio is 1:25. The rice obtained after milling had characteristics similar to cured or parboiled rice.