The objective of the present work was the chemical characterization of dehydrated porridges of rice and soybean at different proportions, 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50%, respectively. Steps for their manufacture included: soybean seed dehulling, blanching, disintegration of blanched rice and soybean, homogenization and spray drying. Chemical characterization was undertaken through proximate composition, mineral and amino acid contents, and trypsin inhibitor activity. An increase in the soybean proportions (0 to 50%) resulted in an increase in the content of protein, oil, ash, crude fiber, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, selenium, manganese and molybdenum, but a decrease in the percentage of carbohydrate, sodium and chromium. Cobalt content did not change. The contents of potassium, magnesium, iron and cooper in the dehydrated rice-soybean porridges with 40 and 50% soybean, were high and were comparable with those met in the RDA for infants. With the exception of the sulfur-amino acids, better essential amino acids (EAA) profiles were obtained as the proportion of soybean increased. EAA composition was comparable to the EAA patterns from FAO/WHO for infants, except for lysine and methionine contents. Dehydrated rice-soybean porridges with 30, 40 and 50% soybean presented the highest lysine contents for preschool children, satisfying the requirement for school children. On the other hand, methionine was not limitant for both preschool and school children. No activity of trypsin inhibitor was detected.
proximate composition; amino acids; minerals; mixture of rice and soybean; dehydrated porridge
