Oryzan™ Rice Bran Oil: A Great Oil for Popcorn

Traditionally, coconut oil has been used as popping oil for making popcorn. It has good flavor and high stability. However, there have been concerns about the health effects of coconut oil used in popcorn, since 90% or more of it is saturated fat. Some alternative vegetable oils have been developed for popcorn use, such as soybean and canola oil. Even though these are low in saturated fat content, most of them are partially hydrogenated and contain trans fatty acids. Oryzan™ rice bran oil is a better oil for popcorn.

The RITO Partnership (Riceland Foods & Oilseeds International Ltd.) has been commercially extracting and refining edible oil from rice bran since 1994. Oryzan™ rice bran oil is extracted from the bran layers of rice. Because of its unique fatty acid composition, Oryzan™ does not have to be hydrogenated. In addition, rice bran oil inherently contains high levels of gamma oryzanol, a natural mixture of ferulic acid esters. Oryzan™ is processed by a non-conventional vegetable oil refining technique to retain much of the oryzanol naturally present in the crude oil. Due to its strong antioxidant properties, oryzanol retards oil degradation at elevated temperatures. This results in a high resistance to oxidation and cooked foods with improved storage stability. While Oryzan™ rice bran oil can be used alone, it can also be blended with other oils to improve their performance.

Properties at a Glance

  • Contributes appealing nut-like flavor
  • Consists of 80% oleic and linoleic fatty acids
  • Naturally free of trans fatty acids (TFA's)
  • Typically contains oryzanol content of 1.0%
  • Good oxidation stability
  • Produces foods with good storage stability

Technical Data
Color (Lovibond, red) 4.5 max AOCS Cc 13b-45
Free Fatty Acid (% as oleic) 0.05 max AOCS Ca 5a-40
Peroxide Value (meq/kg) 1.0 max AOCS Cd 8-53
Moisture (%) 0.05 max AAOCS Ca 2e-84
Chlorophyll (ppb) 75 max AOCS Cc 13d-55
Cold Test (hours) 0.5 min AOCS Cc 11-53
Iodine Value (wijs) 99-108 AOCS Cd 1-25
Oryzanol (%) 1.0 min Spectrophotometric

Fatty Acid Composition
Palmitic (16:0) 15.0%
Stearic (18:0) 1.9%
Oleic (18:1) 42.5%
Linoleic (18:2) 39.1%
Linolenic (18:3) 1.1%
Arachidic (20:0) 0.5%
Behenic (22:0) 0.2%

NOTE: A specially formulated Oryzan™ rice bran oil with natural butter flavor and natural beta-carotene is available for popping application.

Popping Performance
Oryzan™ Rice Bran Oil Out Performs Coconut Oil and Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil

A study was conducted at Riceland's Research and Technical Center to compare corn popping performance of Oryzan™ rice bran oil with coconut oil and partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Our test data showed that the rice bran oil out-performed the coconut oil and the soybean oil in both popping performance and sensory quality. Oryzan™ rice bran oil is an all natural, stable, and great tasting popping oil.

Evaluation of Oryzan™ Rice Bran Oil as a Popping Oil

  Oryzan™
Rice Bran Oil		 Coconut Oil1 Soybean Oil2
 Oil Composition      
Saturated Fat (%) 18 92 18
Monounsaturated Fat (%) 42 6 45
Polyunsaturated Fat (%) 40 2 37
Trans Fat (%) 0 0 19
 Popping Expansion (ml/g)3 42.7 40.0 43.5
 Popping Ratio (w/w)4 0.97 0.95 0.91
 Sensory Evaluation5      
Crunchiness 7 7 7
Greasiness 7 6 6
Flavor 8 9 5


1A commercial coconut popping oil.
2A commercial partially hydrogenated soybean popping oil.
3The volume yield based on the initial corn weight.
4Ratio of the weight of popped kernels to the total initial corn weight. 5Performed 5 minutes after popping on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.

For purchase information on Oryzan™ and other Rice Bran Oil products, contact:
Oilseeds International Ltd.
855 Sansome Street, Suite 100
San Francisco, CA 94111
Phone: (415) 956-7251
Fax: (415) 394-9023
E-mail: Sales@ricebranoil.biz