Double Horse Foods is strengthening its rice portfolio with a focus on traditional rice varieties, hygienic processing and convenience-led product innovation, including no-wash rice and a range of two-minute ready-to-eat products.
Speaking to NUFFOODS Spectrum, Anni Vinod Manjila, Director, Double Horse Foods, highlighted the nutritional attributes of Palakkadan Matta rice, a traditional Geographical Indication (GI)-tagged red rice variety from Kerala, and the company's efforts to make it more accessible to modern consumers.
Matta rice is known for its dietary fibre content, with approximately 6 g of fibre per 100 g, according to the company. Its bran layer is retained during processing, helping preserve its fibre content. With growing consumer interest in dietary fibre and traditional grains, the company sees opportunities to strengthen the positioning of Matta rice as part of everyday diets.
The company is also focusing on hygienic processing with minimal manual intervention. One of its key propositions is no-wash rice, designed to retain the bran layer while offering greater convenience to consumers. Manjila noted that the rice undergoes cleaning, boiling and drying processes under hygienic conditions, eliminating the need for consumers to wash it repeatedly before cooking.
Moving beyond conventional rice formats, Double Horse Foods is developing a dehydrated two-minute product range aimed at consumers seeking convenient meal options. The range includes rice-based upma and instant idiyappam (string hoppers), which can be prepared by adding hot water and allowing the products to rehydrate for approximately two minutes.
The products are being developed in both tub and pack formats to cater to different consumption occasions, including on-the-go meals.
The company's rice upma formulation also incorporates ingredients such as carrots, moringa, raisins and urad dal to enhance its nutritional profile. Each pack provides approximately 9 g of protein, according to Manjila. The two-minute product range is also being developed without preservatives, reflecting the company's focus on clean-label ingredients and convenient food formats.
Through these initiatives, Double Horse Foods aims to combine the nutritional attributes of traditional rice varieties with modern processing techniques and convenient product formats, addressing evolving consumer preferences for fibre-rich, easy-to-prepare and minimally formulated food products.
