Rice, a
traditional staple food of the Orient, has gradually become a food that is used around the
world. A primary food in many parts of Asia, rice makes up anywhere between 55% and 80% of
the caloric intake in countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand
and Vietnam where the average person eats up to 300 lbs of rice a year. Up to 95% of the
world’s rice is consumed in Asia, grown within 5 miles of where it is consumed. As
another example of how much a local crop rice is, of the world’s 520 million metric
ton crop grown world wide, only about 10% of it grown in the United States, yet the US is
the largest exporter of rice in the world.
Yes, rice has been an important food in the Orient for
thousands of years. But because of it’s ease of cooking, good taste and it’s
high diversity in making literally thousands of different dishes, rice is becoming an ever
more important part of the diet here in North America. Rice can be used as part of every
meal of the day and in every dish served. Rice milk and rice crispies for breakfast, a
rice snack at lunch and boiled rice in place of potatoes and rice pudding at dinner. Rice
goes well with any vegetable and with most of the fruits. There are literally thousands of
uses for rice in casseroles, salads and desserts.
It is believed that rice was first cultivated in central India
but was quickly put into large cultivation by the Chinese. This happened as long as 5,500
years ago with rice quickly spreading throughout Asia. It took rice over 4,500 years to
reach Europe in the 12th Century, AD. Then rice was brought to the Americas in the 1690s.
Most of us here in America only know of two kinds of rice -
long grain brown rice and long grain white rice which is refined long grain brown rice.
However, there are over 7,000 varieties of rice around the world. There are different
varieties of medium length rice, and short grain rices as well whose kernels can be so
stubby that the seed is almost round in shape. As 99% of the rice eaten in North America
is long grain brown or white rice, we will restrict most of our comments to these two
rices. However, you will see a small section on Basmati rice at the bottom.
Brown rice is turned into white rice by polishing the outer
layers off. With the outer layers removed, the rice cooks a little quicker, is easier to
chew and because it’s flavor is a bit more bland, can be more easily made into more
foods than brown rice. In it’s unrefined form, brown rice has a very short shelf life
of 6 to 12 months. This is because the fatty acids, unprotected from the air in the outer
layers of the kernel go rancid relatively quickly. In it’s refined form, white rice
will store for many years if carefully preserved. But there’s a big problem with
white rice. The majority of the nutrients in the rice kernel are in the layers that are
removed. What’s left is mostly starch. As refined rice is 81%-83% carbohydrates,
it’s considered a high energy food. But on the flip side of this, many of the
nutrients needed for correct digestion of white rice were removed during the milling
process which forces the body to 'steal' from it’s reserves to digest it. Compared to
brown rice, white rice’s nutrients have been greatly reduced in fatty acids, fiber
(which is already low in brown rice compared to some of the other grains), vitamin E,
thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folacin, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron,
zinc and copper. The amino acids remain relatively unchanged. (See the
rice comparison table at the bottom of this paper.) As white rice is so poor
nutritionally, it is usually fortified with several of these same nutrients that were
removed. These fortified vitamins are usually in the form of a powder on the outside of
the rice. If you wash your white rice before cooking it, you will wash off the majority of
these added nutrients. When you eat brown rice, you eat all the natural nutrition that
comes with this grain. After becoming accustomed to brown rice, many people like it just
as much or better with it’s more robust flavor and more hardy texture. We, at Survival Acres have come to understand brown rice will stay fresh for years if it is packed in the
absence of oxygen then stored in a cool place. With the oxygen removed, there’s
little oxygen to oxidize the fatty acids. This greatly retards the aging process.
There are a couple of different ways white rice can be
processed. The parboiling process takes brown rice, soaks it then steams it which drives
many of the nutrients from the outer layers into the main endosperm part of the seed.
It’s then dried. After drying, the outer layers and germ are removed, turning it into
parboiled, white rice. Parboiling the rice first increases it’s nutrient value but
parboiled rice still falls far short of the nutrition found in brown rice. But enough of
the B vitamins have been driven into the kernel to prevent beriberi, a deficiency disease
caused by a lack of thiamin. Eating only white rice, beriberi is almost a certainty.
Instant rice has been fully cooked and is then dehydrated. It
requires little more than hot water to reconstitute it. Being pre-cooked, instant rice
could go well in your 72 hour kit or the small survival unit you keep in your car or boat.
However, as it has been further processed, it’s generally more expensive and although
it has been fortified, is the least nutritious of the different kinds of white rice you
can buy.
Taking about 90 minutes to cook (20 minutes if it’s been
pre-soaked), rice is customarily cooked once a day in the orient and eaten in various ways
during the day. White rice is the least nutritious of all the grains. Should you decide to
make rice one of the staples of your food supply, care should be taken to insure adequate
vitamins and minerals are received from other sources. Although rice has it’s
problems nutritionally as a stand-alone food, it’s a great energy source. And
although it’s low in protein, as compared to some of the other grains, the protein
rice does contain is more available than the amino acids in wheat. The good news is you
wouldn't get a protein deficiency even if the only thing you ate was rice. And among the
grains, rice’s amino acid balance is only bettered by oats. Lastly, although not as
cheap per calorie as wheat, rice is a great buy when considering energy VS cost and is
much more versatile in it’s whole grain form than wheat. Permit rice to add a lot of
diversity to your food supply and day-to-day diet.
Basmati rice, traditionally a special strain
of rice from India and Pakistan, it's starting to be grown in North America as well.
Indistinguishable from brown rice to the untrained eye, all one needs is a quick whiff of
the Basmati rice to know they are not the same. Basmati rice has a strong, pungent odor
that also has a much stronger flavor than regular long grain brown rice. When cooking
Basmati rice, it’s always a good idea to wash it first in water which washes away a
bit of it’s starch, making it less sticky when cooked. Sought after for Asian
cuisine, many people have grown to love the flavor and texture of this rice grown half way
around the world.Recipes:
Resources:
#2.5 can: N/A
#2.5 case: N/A
#10 can: 84oz (2381g) 53 servings.
#10 case: 318 servings.
Bulk: 25lbs. (11.4kg) 252 servings.
6 Gallon Super Pail Bucket: 43 lbs (19.5kg) 433 servings.
Ingredients: Long grain brown rice. ***Due to high oils and fats brown rice is not good for long term storage.
Directions: Add 1 cup rice to 2-2 ½ cups cold water. May add 1 tbsp. margarine or butter and 1 tsp. salt. Cover with lid and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook 45-55 minutes, keeping lid on but stirring several times. Fluff with fork before serving.
Nutrition Facts:
Serving Size: ½ cup (92g)
Calories 342
Calories from Fat 22
%Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g 4%
Saturated Fat 1g 2%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 13mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate72g 24%
Dietary Fiber 3g 13%
Sugar 2g ----
Protein8g ----
Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 2% • Iron 8%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs:
Calories 2000 2500
Total Fat Less than 65 g 80 g
Sat Fat Less than 20 g 25 g
Cholesterol Less than 300 mg 300 mg
Sodium Less than 2400 mg 2400 mg
Total Carbohydrate 300 g 375 g
Dietary Fiber 25 g 30 g
Calories per gram
Fat 9 • Carbohydrates 4 • Protein 4
Processed in a plant that handles dairy, milk, wheat, egg, soy, peanuts, and tree nut products. |