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The simplicity and ease of cooking with rice make it a great addition to
a heavier, more sustaining meal. If your day is hectic and the pressure
is on with hungry mouths to feed, rice is a perfect solution. Two cups
of rice, thrown into 5 cups of water, can simmer in a covered pot
needing no stirring or attention. Come back in about an hour and you
have a pot full of hardy, filling, carbohydrate-packed food. Rice can be
dressed up with any vegetable, seasoning or used as a bed for tomato
sauces or cooked vegetables. Rice, purchased in bulk, can be as low as
30 cents per pound. A 10 lb. bag of rice in the cupboard is a great
cache of food in difficult financial times.
When canoeing for a week in the interior of Algonquin
Park, we always brought 4-5 lb. of long grain brown rice. At night we
soaked some rice to cut the cooking time in half. The problem is that
soaking rice is a perfect invitation for a visiting bear. We solved this
problem by throwing a rope over a high limb and hoisting the pot 10 feet
in the air. In the morning, we would lower our treasure and cook a meal
that would sustain us through rigorous canoeing, hiking and exploring
God’s beautiful creation. It seems that when the pot blew in those
cool night breezes, it added a certain flavor and mystique to our
morning meal. A bowl of rice as the sun comes up, sitting by a crackling
campfire, seemed to take on the flavors of an environment untouched by
man.
Many think of rice as being a Chinese food. Not any
more! It has become a part of America’s diet and has grown in
popularity over the last 25 years and is eaten all over the world. It is
not ranked as being the most nutritious of grains, but it has been
essential to many culture’s survival. In some parts of the world, rice
consumption ranges up to 300 lb. per person a year. A pound of rice
delivers four times the food energy
as the same serving of potatoes or
pasta. One cup of uncooked rice contains 700 calories. It consists of
80% starch making it primarily a carbohydrate. It is also a good source
of protein, thiamin, phosphorus and potassium.
There are over 7,000 varieties of rice grown around
the world. We are going to look at five of those varieties that we
consider most nutritious. Ninety-eight percent of the rice consumed in
North America is white rice. The husk, bran and germ have been stripped
away to create a fluffy, white, textured rice that is useless in
nutritional value. Brown rice takes a little longer to cook and has a
slightly stickier consistency, but the taste buds easily grow accustomed
to the delicious nutty flavor.
Long Grain Brown
Rice A rice that is high in
fiber and takes about 50 minutes to completely cook. As with all brown
rice, it can be soaked beforehand to reduce the cooking time to 20
minutes.
Medium Grain Brown
Rice These types of rice are
shorter and more plump and have a high degree of amylopectin starch.
This rice is most commonly used for stuffing vegetables, like peppers.
It is excellent for soups and because of its starch is able to thicken
broth.
Short Grain Brown
Rice This rice is as plump as
it is long and rich in amylopectin starch, making it considerably
stickier. It is considered the most nutritious of all rice and is also
great for stuffing.
Basmati, and Aromatic Long Grain Brown
Rice The
best Basmati rice with its famous aromatic smell comes from India and
Pakistan. The California variety is less expensive but lacks the
full-bodied flavor of the Indian Basmati. Always rinse thoroughly,
releasing some of its starchy residue and allowing it to be less sticky
when cooked.
The Texas Texmati, California’s
Calmati, Wehani and
Dela rice are all popular American varieties which have strong aromas
and unique flavors when cooked. Experiment with some of these wonderful
types of rice and you will discover a favorite. We do not recommend
Texmati as the company that created it is responsible for bio-piracy.
Wild
Rice Hundreds of years ago, in the swamps and back waters
around the Great Lakes Regions, it would be a familiar sight to find two
native American women in a canoe harvesting wild rice. One would sit in
the stern, maneuvering the canoe through the tall grasses. The other
would bend the green stems of the wild rice over the canoe, shaking them
to release the seeds into the bottom. As the sun would set, painting
brilliant hues of red across a darkened blue sky, the women would paddle
home laden with their cargo. The native Americans harvested without harm
or stress in an environment that supplied all their needs. The food
industry has caught on to a vast market, hungry for this nutty tasting,
aquatic seed. Canoes were useless and expensive. Natural rice patties
only produced a yield of 50 lb. per acre which was unacceptable for
profit. Through flooding and draining, using chemical fertilizers,
installing barriers for birds, deer and muskrat, and using huge combine
harvesters, modern cultivation resulted in massive destruction of
marshes and wetlands. We encourage you to look for natural,
Indian-harvested wild rice which will be indicated on the package.
Natural wild rice can be pricey, but is well worth the
money. It is a good source of phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, zinc,
thiamin, riboflavin and niacin. A perfect filling meal for those who are
reducing calories. One cup of cooked, wild rice contains only 130
calories. One cup of wild rice needs 3 cups of water, taking up to an
hour to become tender and ready to eat.
We have given you a rice cooking chart to help you
achieve perfect texture that can be difficult with whole grain rice.
Click here for rice recipes:
grain recipes |
