Posted: 2/12/2011 7:48:26 AM EDT
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I've begun vacuum sealing and storing rice. Having never prepared rice over a stove before (other than boiil in bag––I've always used a cooker/steamer), I googled how to prepare rice.
All the recipes begin by instructing you to wash the rice first in order to remove the "imperfections" and excess starch. My question is this––in a survival situation, where every calorie counts, would you really want to remove any starch? Wouldn't it be benificial to cook the rice as-is? Or is the reason more to do with the taste of the rice if you don't rinse it first? (I suppose I could just cook some up both ways to compare, but I'm lazy and I figured you guys would know the answer anyway!) |
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Or is the reason more to do with the taste of the rice if you don't rinse it first? I'm under the impression that washing just keeps the cooked rice from sticking to the cooking vessel as much. This. Throw an extra lump of butter in there when you fluff it. |
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being a geechee I have been eating rice for 60 years and have never "washed" or "rinsed" my rice, coarse we use a rice steamer but have also cooked it in a pot...never had any problems.
The trick to cooking rice in a pot is start the water to boil add rice and simmer till water is gone....DO NOT STIR during the last 10 minutes....let set, off the heat, for 20 minutes or so after water has cook away. |
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Or is the reason more to do with the taste of the rice if you don't rinse it first? I'm under the impression that washing just keeps the cooked rice from sticking to the cooking vessel as much. This. Throw an extra lump of butter in there when you fluff it. butter in rice...? butter goes on grits.... |
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rice is the starch of choice here,
it's even on the menu at Mickey Ds, Burger King,..... Calrose (polished) is popular, and most use rice cookers. almost everyone I know washes the rice to remove dust, misc, and/or bugs. to cook on the stove, we add the appropriate amount of water, and when the water boils, cover the pot and reduce to simmer for about 20 mins, or until the water is gone. remove from heat, fluff, then cover and let sit for maybe ten more mins. after a month or so, small bugs appear in the rice, and washing merely floats them puppies out. meh, can't taste them anywayz, prolly extra protien |
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after a month or so, small bugs appear in the rice, and washing merely floats them puppies out. meh, can't taste them anywayz, prolly extra protien no man, leave them in. That is where you get your protein. But seriously. No bugs show up in my rice. even after several months. I have cooked up a container of "just add water" type chicken noodle soup and found weevils in it though.. and to quote Capt. Jack Aubrey "you always choose the lesser of two weevils" |
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Or is the reason more to do with the taste of the rice if you don't rinse it first? I'm under the impression that washing just keeps the cooked rice from sticking to the cooking vessel as much. This. Throw an extra lump of butter in there when you fluff it. butter in rice...? butter goes on grits.... Butter goes on everything. Period. |
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To store rice long term..
get rice.. put it in a clean bucket.. half way full.. put dry ice in it. fill up bucket with rice ...leave lid cracked.. let dry ice evaporate. after 24 hours seal bucket with lid Dry ice will displace ogygen and rice will last longer and kills any bugs thats in the rice.. |
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To store rice long term.. get rice.. put it in a clean bucket.. half way full.. put dry ice in it. fill up bucket with rice ...leave lid cracked.. let dry ice evaporate. after 24 hours seal bucket with lid Dry ice will displace ogygen and rice will last longer and kills any bugs thats in the rice.. roger that. good point long before prepping and such, and since rice is such a staple here for daily consumption, we buy bags in the 20 to 50 pound range and keep either in the bag, or pour into a suitable vessel, then scoop as needed. a cute 5 pounder wouldn't last long, and we would be back at the store again (plus the larger bags are cheaper by the gross) washing takes no time, and is an old habit - kinda like washing dried beans first....... (eta) there are many brands of rice, and washing may not apply to all. YMMV I have heard that others also freeze the rice prior to storage. |
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To store rice long term.. get rice.. put it in a clean bucket.. half way full.. put dry ice in it. fill up bucket with rice ...leave lid cracked.. let dry ice evaporate. after 24 hours seal bucket with lid Dry ice will displace ogygen and rice will last longer and kills any bugs thats in the rice.. Add some mylar bags and substitute O2 absorbers for the dry ice and you're on to something there! 
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I have heard that others also freeze the rice prior to storage. I buy 20# bags of rice. They go into the chest freezer for a week when I bring them home. Haven't seen a bug in it yet though the bag just sits in the bottom of the pantry, and it can take us 5-6 months to eat that much rice. |
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I have heard that others also freeze the rice prior to storage. I buy 20# bags of rice. They go into the chest freezer for a week when I bring them home. Haven't seen a bug in it yet though the bag just sits in the bottom of the pantry, and it can take us 5-6 months to eat that much rice. interesting, will try that's why I love this site who said old dogs can't learn new tricks 
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I have heard that others also freeze the rice prior to storage. I buy 20# bags of rice. They go into the chest freezer for a week when I bring them home. Haven't seen a bug in it yet though the bag just sits in the bottom of the pantry, and it can take us 5-6 months to eat that much rice. Yep. I used to work at a grocery wholesaler, and rice, flour, dry pet food, pretty much anything grain or grain based went into the deep freeze. It was 17*F in there, and they would leave it for a week or two before rotating it out into the refrigerated section (47*F) then the candy section (60*F) and then out onto the warehouse floor for shipment. It came out progressively so that it wouldn't build condensation in the warehouse and mold. They started this treatment when we started getting infestations of weevils and things from the flour and dry pet food. |
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I keep hearing folks say to freeze your rice/grain/whatever before storage.
I have done it myself. I wonder though, if this really does work. We do know that freezing does not kill insects. Alaska has massive amounts of Mosquitos on the north slope and I'm pretty sure they dont migrate up there every year. Insects are pretty common all over the northern USA. Montana, Minnesota and the Dakotas have some pretty nasty winters but they have enough bugs to feed the birds and pollinate the vegitation, and still eat the grain So, does freezing actually work? Has anybody actually taken a bag of grain, stored half without freezing, then frozen the other half and stored, only to later find the unfrozen half with bugs? Show me some proof. |
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I don't know what this cooking method is called, but this Nicaraguan guy I used to work with showed it to me once. In a large frying pan, heat just enough oil to coat the bottom. Once the oil is hot, add enough rice to cover the bottom of the pan a couple kernels thick. Stir the crap out of the rice on medium heat. In a couple minutes, the rice will go from translucent white to opaque white. Keep stirring or it will burn. Once all the rice has turned totally white, add enough water to cover the rice completely - maybe three times as deep as the kernels are high. Cover it tightly, and reduce the heat to a simmer. The rice will come out like Minute Rice or Uncle Ben's. |
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I don't know what this cooking method is called, but this Nicaraguan guy I used to work with showed it to me once. In a large frying pan, heat just enough oil to coat the bottom. Once the oil is hot, add enough rice to cover the bottom of the pan a couple kernels thick. Stir the crap out of the rice on medium heat. In a couple minutes, the rice will go from translucent white to opaque white. Keep stirring or it will burn. Once all the rice has turned totally white, add enough water to cover the rice completely - maybe three times as deep as the kernels are high. Cover it tightly, and reduce the heat to a simmer. The rice will come out like Minute Rice or Uncle Ben's. Yep, that's how I do it. |
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Being Asian, my family eat rice everyday. We go through 50 lbs of rice every 3 months. Always have 50 lb in its original bag in the garage for backup. Never have any problem with bugs so freezing the rice is never an option. roger that. same here. I don't notice the bugs all the time, I just remember when I see them. throughout my life, everyone I have known on different Islands wash their rice. Don't know what the restaurants do.... I just mentioned that if bugs are present, they just wash away, and since they are so small, I don't notice until we wash the rice. [shrug] due to the high consumption, the downside is that white rice is a major cause of diabetes here, so we eat more brown (or hapa) rice instead however, in the SHTF scenario, I may have more important things on my mind just personal preference
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I wash my rice. Why? Because my grandma and my mom wash theirs. Everyone I know wash theirs. Now I teach my 11 year old to do the same. Honestly, if you offer me unwashed rice, I wouldn't able to tell the difference 
Troy808 many rice eaters, especially the ones with the lack of medical care, won't know that they are diabetics until they lost an eye or a limb. Despite the risks, I still want my rice daily. |