Rice!

Rice is obviously very popular in Japan and other Asian countries as it has been for centuries. I now understand this fully because I have eaten rice at almost every meal since I have been in Japan. No complaints, I love rice and Japanese people definitely know how to cook it by itself or with something else. I figured since rice is so popular in Japan, I would do a post on it.

According to documentation, rice as been eaten by people since 2500 B.C. It originated in Asian countries and spread west to Europe, Africa, and finally North America and South America. Rice has become and still is one of the most widely cultivated plants in the world (2nd behind corn right now) and that is because of its versatility to live in a wide array of climates including deserts, wetlands, and mountains.

The harvesting process first requires a rice huller to remove the chaff (outer husk of the grain), producing what we call brown rice. The milling process can then be continued removing the bran (the rest of the husk) and the germ, creating what we call white rice. As the milling process is used further, nutrients in the rice are also lost, meaning that brown rice has more nutrients than white rice. Because of this, white rice must be supplemented with vitamin and nutrient powders before being sold to consumers. Parboiled rice is a processing technique that steams or partially boils rice when it still has its husk causing the nutrients to absorb into the white rice grain inside. Parboiled rice is nutritionally superior to standard milled rice, while also having an additional benefit of not sticking to the pan during cooking, as what happens when cooking regular white rice.

There are more than 40,000 different kinds of rice worldwide and they have a wide variety of uses. Starch from rice can be used in making ice creams, gels, puddings, etc. While the rice husk can be used as a fuel, in board and paper manufacturing, or as an insulator. Other parts of the rice plant and byproducts of processed rice can also be used for many things, but the list is very long. Overall, rice has a wide range of uses but most importantly it is the crop that feeds billions of people every day.