Rice

[kowloonboy]

Speedy Chef in Shenyang, Liaoning China, can stir fry two fried rice/ noodle within one minute

He can also cook many dish at the same time. Even while singing. He has been cooking for over twenty years.

His top record was to cook 12 dishes at the same time. He could cook over 200 dishes within 2 hours. Therefore the average per minute is 2 dishes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1dvt...eature=related

[David Jamieson]

I wonder how the taste is.

[GeneChing]

Because of course, Japan would have rice masters.

Japanese rice master: Beijing demonstration falls short but provides morale boost
February 14, 2016
By JUNJI MURAKAMI/ Staff Writer

SAKAI--Tsutomu Murashima said his rice-cooking demonstration in China was only “60 percent successful,” despite the accolades that poured in from audience members who sampled his concoction.

Murashima, 85, returned to Japan on Jan. 13, a day after the event in Beijing organized by a Chinese government group that is trying to improve the quality of products sold in China.

During the Jan. 12 demonstration, Murashima mixed 10 types of rice from across China using bottled water from a retailer in the country. He cooked 150 servings of rice in three pots on a stage.

About 180 people in various fields, from influential business people and food critics, tried the rice. The reviews were overwhelmingly favorable, including, “The rice made by the master is sweet and tasty.”

However, Murashima had difficulty adjusting the gap between the pot and the heat.

“Although I did my best, the stickiness, luster and flavor of the rice were different from what I usually make,” he said.

“The rice was 60 percent successful,” he said.

But he said he felt motivated by the compliments he received for the rice.

“I felt that food has no borders," he said. "I want to try again.”

His rice was quickly gobbled down, as well as the 3 kilograms of “shiokonbu” (thin strips of kelp cooked in soy sauce), a local specialty Murashima brought from Sakai, served as an accompanying dish.

His “onigiri” rice balls went down particularly well among the audience members, bringing smiles to their faces while they ate.

For more than half a century, Murashima has cooked rice at the Ginshari-ya Gekotei eatery that he opened in 1963 in Sakai. He became widely known in China after a Chinese blogger who visited Gekotei posted an article that described Murashima as “the wizard of rice cooking in Sakai.”

Murashima was also featured on television programs.

The rice-cooking demonstration was arranged by an organization from China’s Ministry of Commerce that has been planning a “highest-quality mark” for products sold in China.

The Chinese organizers invited Murashima as an “ambassador of rice culture” to learn his methods and attitude toward rice cooking as part of the Beijing’s quality-improvement efforts.

The organizers asked for Murashima’s participation through the Sakai city government, saying, “Mr. Murashima’s bowl of rice is the very thing that warms and bridges the hearts of Japan and China.”

On Jan. 7, Murashima flew to Beijing with his favorite pots. Having never before cooked rice in China, he studied the right amount of water and heat level through trial and error before the Jan. 12 event.

On Jan. 16, Murashima reopened Gekotei.

“I really appreciate that Chinese visitors said ‘delicious’ to my rice,” he said. “I will go back to square one and keep trying.”

By JUNJI MURAKAMI/ Staff Writer

Why is this in the Southern Chinese Kung Fu forum again?

I'm so hijacking this thread. I'll move it to the OT forum soon.

[GeneChing]

If you're a facebooker, you've probably seen that trending Audi with a rice-cooker. It was actually an April Fools prank from 2015, but that's facebook for you. And to think that fb is having such an effect on our Presidential election this year...

Audi Japan debuts special edition A8 featuring a rice cooker






Exclusive only for Japan, The Audi A8 5.5
“Vorsprung durch Technik” advances to a whole new level
Audi premiered their flagship car, Audi A8 in 2014 to achieve mature market excellence of Japan’s import automobile industry. In addition to the lineup of A8 3.0/4.0, Audi debuts the “5.5” model limited only in Japan. To respond to the high demands of our customers, Audi A8 5.5 strived to aim for the most satisfying model using world class, advanced technologies. The model name 5.5 was inspired from 5(five) Go and 0.5(half) Han, coming from the term gohan, which means rice in Japanese.
From the console, shines the pure-white perfection.
In honor of the Japanese rice-eating culture, the Audi A8 5.5 features the world’s first rice cooker in the rear sheet console. The rice cooker is exclusively designed on the basis of the unique performance of Audi A8's 435PS／600Nm. From the intense heat convection inside the broad-brimmed Japanese rice cooking pot called, Hagama, it can generate heat directly from the core, cooking the perfect rice ever.
Innovated gourmet food technology in a sophisticated style.
With the touch screen menu panel, owners can select multiple cooking options. Through Audi’s refined, innovative technology, each and every owner can now customize any rice to their own taste of preference.
The one and only fine quality of soft rush grass (rice straw) selected carefully will grasp the owner’s heart instantly.
Audi’s innovative aesthetics creates the most comfortable atmosphere fitted for the Japanese climate. The 2,990mm long wheelbase interior is designed with tatami made out of the finest rush suitable for high temperature and the humidity in Japan. Enjoy the aesthetic features of Japanese culture with the new Audi A8 5.5
Audi A8 5.5 debut.
100 Years of Audi History. Today is April 1st.

Present
Audi April Fools' Day gift 「Audi original rice paddle」



For customers who contact their local Audi dealer regarding the Audi A8 5.5, will receive a special gift based on first come first serve basis.

Please click here to contact your local dealer.
Please note that distribution of gift will be finished upon stock availability.
The Gift will be distributed only on April 1, 2015. Dealers which close on April 1st will distribute it the next business day.
Please note that some of dealers will not distribute the gift.
This exclusive campaign is conducted only in Japan

.

[highlypotion]

If you're a facebooker, you've probably seen that trending Audi with a rice-cooker. It was actually an April Fools prank from 2015, but that's facebook for you. And to think that fb is having such an effect on our Presidential election this year...

Wow!! Looks so appetizing!

[highlypotion]

Jack Daniels is one of my favorites! I miss the days when I me and my friends were drinking til dawn.

[GeneChing]

How a Quest for the Perfect Bowl of Rice Cooked Up a Billionaire
By Yoojung Lee
August 29, 2018, 2:16 PM PDT Updated on August 29, 2018, 6:59 PM PDT
Koo’s company dominates market even as rice consumption falls
Cuckoo exports appliance to 25 countries, including China


Cuckoo rice cookers at a store in Seoul. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Rice is a staple for Koreans, but as New York restaurateur Bobby Yoon explains it, the connection is deeper, almost spiritual.

“We need the perfect bowl of rice for each meal," said Yoon, whose recently opened barbecue joint in Manhattan is an offshoot of Haeundae Somunnan Amso Galbijip, his grandfather’s venerable Busan institution. “It doesn’t have a flavor, but there is also a certain umami to it when cooked well.”

Perfecting rice that’s integral to such everyday dishes as bulgogi and kimchi jjigae needs the best cooker possible, one that produces perfect grains without scorching them. The countertop appliances are given as gifts when people get married or move to a new house, and can symbolize wealth and good health for the family.

By far the most popular brand is the Cuckoo, which emits a distinctive sound similar to the call of the bird it’s named after as it releases steam during the cooking process.

That obsession and stranglehold on the market has made Cuckoo Holdings Co. founder Koo Ja-sin a billionaire. The company controls about 70 percent of South Korea’s market for rice cookers -- easily outselling domestic rival Cuchen Co. -- and exports to more than two dozen countries, mostly in Asia.

‘Grown Big’

“The market is not huge, and there were already technology barriers when other big brands were looking to penetrate it,” said Yang Ji-hye, an analyst at Meritz Securities in Seoul. “Cuckoo seized the niche market and has grown big.”

Koo, 77, started the firm in 1978 after a brief career in politics, where he served as secretary to a local lawmaker. He began by manufacturing rice cookers for large companies such as LG Electronics Co. After orders dwindled to a trickle during the Asian financial crisis, he started his own brand in 1998.

The public latched on to the “Do Cuckoo” catchphrase from the firm’s television commercials and sales quickly grew. Cuckoo shares have returned 127 percent, including reinvested dividends, since its 2014 initial public offering in Seoul, outpacing the 20 percent return of the Kospi Index of 780 Korean companies.

"Koreans believe that what’s made of rice is good for your health," said Jun Kyung-woo, the co-author of the book "Dining in Seoul." "When someone feels unwell, they even attribute that to not eating enough rice."

Koo now has a net worth of $1.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, based mainly on his and the family’s stake in the holding company and in Cuckoo Homesys Co., which rents appliances such as water purifiers. Koo is chairman of the holding company, while the oldest of his two sons -- Koo Bon-hak -- runs the business.

Biggest Stake


Koo Bon-hak Source: Cuckoo Holdings

Koo Bon-hak, 48, is chief executive officer and holds the largest stake in Cuckoo. He joined the company in 1995 after earning a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Illinois.

A spokeswoman for Cuckoo, which also manufactures dishwashers, blenders and other kitchen appliances, declined to comment.

While Cuckoo dominates the market for cookers, it’s battling long-term trends that may undermine growth. Rice consumption in South Korea has tumbled by 50 percent in the past three decades as wheat-based products such as pasta and bread gained wider acceptance. The growing number of one-person households and dual-income families has contributed to the popularity of microwavable rice, which is less time-consuming and easier to cook.

Overseas sales, which account for about 10 percent of the company’s revenue, were hit by the fallout from tensions last year between South Korea and China over the U.S.-led deployment of an anti-missile system. Exports of Cuckoo rice cookers to China shrank 21 percent last year compared with 2016, according to a June research report by HI Investment & Securities in Seoul.

Cultural Link

Cuckoo products are sold in 25 countries, including China, Russia and Vietnam, with China making up about 40 percent of overseas sales, according to the company. Its rice cookers are customized to match each country’s environment, accounting for differences in temperature and humidity.

For many Koreans living abroad, a rice cooker is a reminder of home and a link to their country’s culture. When Yoon, the New York restaurateur, was a student in Pennsylvania, he said his mother sent him a Cuckoo for his dorm room. But he was unable to make it work because the power outlet was different than in Korea.

“My mom cried because I couldn’t use it,” Yoon said. “That’s how much a rice cooker means for the family.”

— With assistance by Kate Krader

"the power outlet was different" srsly? Get a power converter. Don't make your mum cry.

[GeneChing]

We've discussed plastic rice here and here

Chris Elliott
So-called plastic rice could have been the real deal, but stored for a decade
By Joe Whitworth on October 15, 2019

Reports about “plastic rice” are likely incorrect according to a food fraud expert who says it could have been actual rice that had been poorly stored for up to a decade.

Chris Elliott, professor of food safety and founder of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast, said he has been investigating rice fraud for a number of years.

“That all started off by lots of reports coming from different parts of the world about what was called plastic rice. People were claiming that they were being sold rice that was made from plastic. As someone who studies food fraud I was quite interested in this,” he told Food Safety News while he was in Edinburgh to meet the head of the Scottish Food Crime and Incidents Unit (SFCIU).

“The first thing, when we looked at the economics, actually plastic is more expensive than rice so you (know) it is not made from plastic. Then you think why would people think they are eating rice made from plastic? It took quite a long time to uncover what we think was going on and I spent some time in South East Asia asking lots of questions.

“Plastic rice is not made from plastic, it is rice that has been stored for up to 10 years and not stored particularly well. The rice had become badly contaminated with molds and instead of that nice white color, had turned into an unpleasant green color and what the fraudsters had done was they had taken that rice out of the stores and bleached it to get back the white color.

“The only problem was whenever you bleach rice it loses the nice shiny surface so to get that back they sprayed it with paraffin wax. With that paraffin coating on it, it didn’t cook properly, hence the reason it was called plastic rice.”

Smartphone-based analysis

The university has been trying to develop quick analytical tests for the past couple of years so people can detect the difference between genuine rice and product that has been treated badly in terms of chemicals.

“There has been a big push in terms of how science and technology can detect and deter food fraud,” said Elliott.

“In terms of my own work at Queen’s University, we are looking at how we can use the thing that we all have in our pocket to detect food fraud. So doing a lot of smartphone-based analysis. Using fingerprints of food we can build these mathematical models of what the fingerprint of food should look like. Just six weeks ago I was in a marketplace in Ghana checking for fraud in rice using my smartphone.”

Elliott said Europe has a good food safety network so people would not try to sell very low quality product into the region because the systems would pick it up.

“In the U.K. and wider Europe we don’t need consumers to check if our food has been fraudulently produced. We’ve got a great infrastructure of government agencies and a fantastic food industry that are doing all that for us,” he said.

“What we want to do is put these tools in the hands of people in the food industry, government inspectors and environmental health officers to do that checking for us. In the developing world it is very different because that infrastructure doesn’t exist there, we want to put those tools in the hands of consumers to make informed decisions.

“The plastic rice is being sold to parts of the world that don’t have those checks and measures. It is not just in South East Asia; in Sub-Saharan Africa it crops up regularly where it is not only rice, they are generally sold the worst of the worst. Anything that cannot go into Europe because of food safety standards will end up getting dumped in Sub-Saharan Africa. They will sell to countries where they don’t have the measures to check and test for these things.”

Elliott led the independent review of Britain’s food system following the 2013 horsemeat scandal and is joint coordinator of EU-China-Safe, an EU Horizon 2020 project that runs until August 2021. There are 16 participants from the EU and 17 from China with an aim to improve food safety and combat fraud.

Predictions and problems caused by Brexit

A lot of work goes into trying to predict what the next problem might be.

“We’re developing predictive analytics, gathering lots of information from different parts of the world,” said Elliott.

“Thinking about what is happening to our climate and the way food is traded around the world, to try and predict where there will be problems, shortages and more demand than availability of foodstuffs. That is not only to guide our research but we inform the industry and government agencies about what we think their surveillance program should be not now but six months or a year down the road.”

Regarding Brexit, Elliott said it is not a question of if it will cause problems but how big they will be.

“As soon as you start to change rules and regulations that gives a massive opportunity for people who cheat and that happens the world over. There will be potentially a massive amount of fraud around tariffs as they are going to change. I think the potential for lots of smuggling from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the rest of Great Britain will happen as well,” he said.

“The other big factor, the thing that worries me even more, is that the U.K. will get cut off from the established European networks that share information and intelligence. Fraudsters aren’t silly, they will know the disconnect between the U.K. and Europe and they will maximize that opportunity.

“There will be difficulties in terms of the informal relationships as well, I know the regulatory agencies across the country can pick up the phone and talk to their counterparts in Germany or France but will that be the same case going forward, I doubt it somehow. It has not been a frictionless proposition about leaving Europe, I think it is going to take years to rebuild some of those relationships that we once had.”

This makes a lot more sense to me than plastic rice did.

[GeneChing]

Hong Kong protests, cheap Chinese rivals: why Thai rice is in crisis
The country was once the world’s top exporter but it has been hit by a triple whammy of unrest in Hong Kong, a strong baht and tough competition
With rice front and centre in Thai politics, that’s bad news for Bangkok
Jitsiree Thongnoi
Published: 12:15pm, 17 Nov, 2019


Rice at a market in Bangkok. Photo: AFP

Thai rice, once dominant on the world market, is now facing a triple whammy of a strong baht, tough competition from Asian neighbours and social unrest in Hong Kong that is weighing on demand.
The weaker sales overseas are part of a lacklustre performance by the country’s export sector amid an almost 10 per cent rise in the currency against the US dollar since the beginning of the year. Rice exports have been left exposed to stiff competition from large producers such as India, Vietnam and China.
Traders have also blamed continuing anti-government protests in Hong Kong, where about half of rice classified as premium produce comes from Thailand. The number of tourists visiting the Chinese city has plunged in recent months, from 5.1 million in July to 3.1 million in September.


Thai farmers harvest rice in a field in Thailand’s southern Narathiwat province. Photo: AFP

Thailand exported 143,000 tonnes of rice to Hong Kong between January and September last year.
In the same period this year, the country managed only 127,000 tonnes – an 11 per cent drop.
“Thai premium white rice caters mainly to Hong Kong’s tourism sector,” said Charoen Laothamatas, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association (TREA). “But we have seen fewer shipments to Hong Kong in recent months as there is lower demand from restaurants and hotels.”
Thailand’s share of the city’s rice market peaked in 2016 at 64 per cent, but Laothamatas said it had since fallen to about 52 per cent.
However, a source at Chaitip, a major rice trading company that has been exporting to Hong Kong for more than a century, said the demonstrations had not been as damaging as recent price rises.
“The lower demand is not due to the unrest, it is because jasmine rice has become too expensive,” said the source.
“Droughts in many parts of Thailand this year have led to lower production of jasmine rice, which is why the price has shot up.”
Thai hom mali, or premium jasmine rice, is the country’s most recognisable rice product. Its slim and aromatic grain now costs about 1,200 baht (US$39) per tonne, while Vietnam’s white rice is priced at about half that figure.
The industry is crucial for Thailand because of the large number of Thais who depend on it. It supports as much as 30 per cent of the country’s 69-million population, according to Chookiat Ophaswongse, TREA’s special president.


Former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra relied heavily on government subsidies to rice producers to win political support. Photo: AP

It has often been central to Thai politics, with the country’s farmers holding considerable political influence. Support from Thailand’s rural northeast was central to the electoral success of the Shinawatra family between 2001 and 2014. Former prime ministers Thaksin and his sister Yingluck relied heavily on government subsidies to rice producers, who in turn formed the backbone of their populist “red shirt” movement, which clashed repeatedly with anti-Thaksin, pro-monarchy “yellow shirts”. The conflict led to a military intervention in 2014 that only ended this year with elections in March.
Until 2012 Thailand was the world’s top rice exporter in terms of volume, but India took the top spot after it lifted a ban on non-basmati rice exports in 2011.
The loss of Thailand’s prized position came in the wake of a “rice-pledging scheme” embarked on by Yingluck’s administration. The government bought rice from farmers at inflated prices, which sent the price of the product upwards on the world market while forcing down demand. An 18-million-tonne stockpile was accumulated by the state, the last of which was shipped out to market only last year, when total exports for the year stood at 11 million tonnes.
The disastrous programme cost the government US$8 billion, according to figures from the military, which cited it as a major justification for its coup that deposed Yingluck in 2014. The prime minister was subsequently sentenced in absentia to five years in prison, and the military junta then worked hard to court Thai rice farmers before it relinquished power this year.


Bags of rice stacked at a factory in Bangkok. Photo: AFP

Nipon Puapongsakorn, a researcher at the Thailand Development Research Institute Foundation, said the government subsidy programme was a short-sighted attempt to maintain Thailand’s agricultural productivity and competitiveness.
The state last month also began paying farmers across Thailand who have joined a rice price guarantee scheme.
The scheme ensures farmers are paid the difference when the price falls below a predetermined benchmark. It covers five types of rice, including those from the country’s hom mali paddy and glutinous rice paddy, which are badly affected by drought and floods.
The programme will run until October next year, but several other subsidies and financial support schemes for rice farmers and growers of other crops, including oil palm, cassava, rubber and corn, will be available for longer.
Sudarat Keyuraphan, a key member of Thailand’s Shinawatra-backed Pheu Thai political party, this week said the government subsidy would allow middlemen to reduce the price of rice further when they bought from farmers.
But Puapongsakorn said these measures were only short term. “The budget for subsidy programmes is much higher than that for rice research, which helps Thailand stay competitive in the long run,” he said.
The researcher added that India’s development of hybrid fragrant rice and Vietnam’s research into soft white rice for export had seen Thailand’s jasmine rice lose its charm among international buyers.
“Vietnam has lower costs and the country’s currency is under control,” he said. “The government needs to develop new types of rice that meet more of the market demand.”
Vietnam is now the third-biggest supplier in the world.
Meanwhile, China, with its estimated rice stockpile of more than 100 million tonnes, has begun releasing supply to African countries, further edging out Thai producers, according to Puapongsakorn. He said China’s exports rose more than 70 per cent last year due to demand from Africa, with Ivory Coast the country’s biggest customer.
Chinese white rice cost US$300 a tonne in July, while similar grains from Thailand were quoted at US$390, those from Vietnam at US$360, and India at US$370, according to Thai media.
Market share for Thailand in Africa stood at 51 per cent last year, TREA figures show.
Laothamatas said TREA had cut its export target for this year to less than 8.5 million tonnes, down from the usual figure of between 9 million and 9.5 million.
“There was no competition 20 years ago, but there is competition everywhere now, from India, Pakistan, Myanmar and Cambodia,” he said. “We need to develop new rice varieties and reduce our costs so that we can compete.”
Ophaswongse told Bloomberg that the competition was “killing us all”. “We don’t know what else we can do. We tried reducing costs, but the baht keeps making our rice more expensive,” he said.
“We can only sit and wait, and some might have to quit the business.” ■

THREADS
Rice
Hong Kong protests

[GeneChing]

I found this quite informative.

What's The Healthiest Rice? Brown Rice And White Rice Face Off
You might want to update your takeout order.
BY CHRISTINE YU
NOV 29, 2019

[IMG]https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/poke-bowls-with-ponzu-dressing-royalty-free-image-1574370421.jpg?resize=980:*[/IMG]
LUCHEZAR GETTY IMAGES

If you've hesitated when picking between white rice and brown rice while ordering from your favorite takeout joint, you're definitely not the only one. White rice tastes so good soaked in sweet and sour sauce, but isn't brown rice better for you?

Considering the age of keto and low-carb everything has many people throwing grains out the window, figuring out what type of rice is the healthiest (and if rice is honestly healthy at all) has never been more confusing.

Should you stick to brown rice—or skip the starchy stuff altogether? Well, it depends. Many nutrition experts advocate that grains can totally fit into a balanced diet—as long as you choose your variety (and portion size) wisely.

Don't worry, your love affair with poke bowls is far from doomed. Here, dietitians break down the healthy (and not-so-healthy) types of rice—and how to make the grain work for you.

The big question: Is brown rice healthier than white rice?
Yep, it’s more than just color that sets these two types of rice apart.

“Brown rice contains all three parts of the grain: the bran, endosperm and germ," says dietitian Marisa Moore, RDN. SparkNotes: Yes, that means brown rice is a whole grain.

“White rice, meanwhile, goes through processing that removes the bran and germ, leaving just the starchy endosperm,” says Moore. So, nope, not a whole grain.

That processing has a pretty major impact on rice's nutrition. “White rice has been stripped of most of its protein, fiber, B vitamins and minerals," says Lauren Harris-Pincus, MS, RDN, dietitian and author of The Protein-Packed Breakfast Club. (Because of this, a lot of companies in the US actually fortify white rice with the B vitamins thiamin, niacin, folic acid—and iron—to revive some shred of nutrition.)

“Brown rice, then, contains more protein, fiber, and nutrients than white rice, making it more filling and satisfying," Harris-Pincus says. "It also has a lower glycemic index, meaning one serving of brown rice raises blood sugar less than the same serving of white rice.”

[IMG]https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/germinated-brown-rice-close-ups-royalty-free-image-1574370845.jpg?resize=768:*[/IMG]
KUMACORE GETTY IMAGES

To put the differences in perspective, here's the nutritional information for one cup of cooked brown rice, per the USDA Nutrient Database:

Calories: 238
Fat: 1.87 g
Carbohydrates: 49.6 g
Fiber: 3.12 g
Sugar: 0.47 g
Protein: 5.32 g
Sodium: 202 mg

[IMG]https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/rice-royalty-free-image-1574371373.jpg?resize=768:*[/IMG]
ALEAIMAGE GETTY IMAGES

And the nutritional information for a cup of cooked white rice, per the USDA Nutrient Database:

Calories: 204
Fat: 0.44 g
Carbohydrates: 44.2 g
Fiber: 0.63 g
Sugar: 0.08 g
Protein: 4.22 g
Sodium: 387 mg
Though a serving of brown rice is higher in calories, it provides more balanced nutrition—and is generally a better pick—than a serving of the white stuff.

Got it. So what are the healthiest types of rice?

Okay, so you know that brown rice is technically healthier than white—but brown and white rice aren't the only players in the game. In fact, other varieties of rice may be even better for you than brown rice.

According to Moore, red rice and black rice actually compete for the title of "healthiest rice."

“Black rice has been shown to have the highest antioxidant activity of all the rice varieties,” Moore says. “It gets its deep purple-black color from anthocyanins, the same pigments that give blackberries their antioxidant power."

[IMG]https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/full-frame-of-black-forbidden-rice-royalty-free-image-1574370894.jpg?resize=768:*[/IMG]
DOUGLAS SACHA GETTY IMAGES

Here's the nutrition information for a serving of black rice, per the USDA Nutrient Database:

Calories: 160
Fat: 1.5 g
Carbohydrates: 34 g
Fiber: 1 g
Sugar: 0 g
Protein: 4 g
Sodium: 0 mg
Though perhaps not as impressive as black rice, red rice also boasts a solid antioxidant profile, Moore says. (It actually has more fiber than black rice, though.) When it comes to these body-protecting compounds, brown rice can't really compete.

[IMG]https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/texture-of-red-rice-royalty-free-image-1574370921.jpg?resize=768:*[/IMG]
VICTOR CARDONER GETTY IMAGES

Check out the general nutrition stats for a serving of red rice, per the USDA Nutrient Database:

Calories: 160
Fat: 1.5 g
Carbohydrates: 34 g
Fiber: 5 g
Sugar: 0 g
Protein: 4 g
Sodium: 30 mg

And then, of course, there's wild rice. Another popular—and healthy—pick, wild rice is particularly unique because, well, it's not actually rice.

“Wild rice looks and cooks like rice, but it's technically the seed of an aquatic grass," says Harris-Pincus. "It contains more protein, fiber, potassium, and zinc than brown or white rice." It's also lower in calories and carbs.

[IMG]https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/wild-black-and-red-rice-directly-above-view-macro-royalty-free-image-1574370971.jpg?resize=768:*[/IMG]
MIKROMAN6 GETTY IMAGES
Finally, here's the nutrition information for a serving of wild rice, per the USDA Nutrient Database:

Calories: 166
Fat: 0.6 g
Carbohydrates: 35 g
Fiber: 2.9 g
Sugar: 1.2 g
Protein: 6.5 g
Sodium: 4.9 mg

So does that mean pre-made or packaged rice is a no-go?

Though funkier rice varieties are your most nutritious picks, don’t completely discount the pre-made stuff—especially when you have zero time to cook from scratch.

“Packaged rice can be a healthy choice, especially compared to some other convenience foods," says Moore. Just check the label for unnecessary ingredients or high amounts of sodium.”

To keep it clean, opt for the plain versions of frozen or microwavable rice products. Uncle Ben's Chicken and Broccoli Ready Rice, for example, contains almost 500 milligrams (half your daily limit) of sodium.

“In small portions, the nutritional differences are small," says Harris-Pincus. "But if you consume large portions (one cup or more) of rice several times per week, the differences add up.”

Want to add rice to your diet? Here’s the healthiest way to do it.

When choosing between types of rice, taste matters, says Moore.

“I grew up on rice and still love it," says Moore. It's an inexpensive blank canvas to build upon.”

Depending on the type of dish you're making (like an Asian-inspired stir fry versus colorful macro bowl), you might want to choose the type of rice you use based on the flavors you're after, Moore says. “Some recipes taste best and are most authentic using white rice, while others work well with the nutty flavor of brown rice."


Whatever type of rice you choose, just keep portion sizes in mind. “If you love white rice, a small portion [think one-third to one-half of a cup] certainly will not hurt you,” she says.

Plus, “the good news is that when you cook and then cool white rice, it forms 'resistant starch,'" says Harris-Pincus. This type of starch is resistant to digestion, so eating cooled rice will have less of an effect on your blood sugar. WIN.

The bottom line: Though brown, red, wild, and black rices are more nutritious than white rice, you can incorporate all types of rice into your diet as long as you stay mindful of portions.

CHRISTINE YU
Christine Yu is a freelance writer, yoga teacher, and avid runner who regularly covers health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness for outlets like Well + Good, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, and Outside.

[GeneChing]

CHINA RICE MUSEUM CELEBRATES THE GRAIN
BY ELISABETH PERLMAN ON 6/13/16 AT 8:25 AM

The world’s first museum dedicated to rice has opened in China, The Times reported.

Based in Changsha, the capital of central China’s Hunan province, Longping Rice Museum pays homage to Yuan Longping, otherwise known as the “father of hybrid rice,” for his contribution to increasing rice yields throughout the country. Longping, a Chinese agricultural scientist and educator developed the first hybrid varieties of rice in the 1970s.

Museum visitors are invited to walk inside a collection of buildings shaped like rice kernels, while reflecting on China’s historical relationship with the grain.

The world's first rice museum, named after Chinese agricultural scientist Yuan Longping, in Changsha, the capital of China’s Hunan province, May 17.
@XHNEWS/TWITTER

“Good rice is so tasty that you don’t need anything else, you can have a meal just of rice,” said Professor Zhu Zhiwei, an analyst at China’s National Rice Research Institute, founded in 1981 and based in the eastern province of Hangzhou. Professor Zhiwei heads a team of six Chinese government officials who try 30 different types of rice every day. The different varieties are then rated on a scale of one to 100 based on texture, flavor, color, smell and aftertaste.

The major rice growing regions in China are based in the country’s northeast provinces of Jiangsu and Ningxia. The Chinese population is on course to consume a record 145 million tonnes of rice this year, which amounts to approximately 30 per cent of global demand, The Times reported. Despite high yields, the only country boasting national rice tasting standards is Japan, which remains the dominant global authority when it comes to rice.

Every time I get a rice or noodles news story, I think about splitting this thread. Then I read through the beginning and decide it's too funny to split. But some day I will....maybe.

[PalmStriker]

I've been eating way more rice than noodles over the last few weeks, a major craving. Must be some logical explanation besides the way rice can be more filling and last longer to curb hunger. Of course the taste is unique. Rice stands alone in that way.

[GeneChing]

The posts above are poached from the Noodles-or-Rice thread.

I don't know why this amuses me. Maybe because I've been in Chinese kitchens and seen bugs?

China Agency to inspect basmati rice production facilities for insects
No commitment to open the door for imports; trade in non-basmati rice out of question
Sanjeeb Mukherjee | New Delhi
September 7, 2016 Last Updated at 12:42 IST



India’s basmati rice harvest, which has been facing headwinds of late due to quarantine issues, could find a new market as China’s plant quarantine and inspection body has agreed to undertake a survey of all the 19 rice mills registered with India’s National Plant Protection Organisation (NPPO).

The inspections will be for presence of ‘khapra’ beetle in Indian basmati rice.

However, inspection does not mean that China has opened the doors for import of basmati rice from India.

These mills are situated in states such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, among others.

On basmati rice, traders and senior officials said the inspection is not related to its exports as China’s has its own rice variety which is similar to India’s and whatever shortfall it faces is compensated by imports from Pakistan.

“There is no question of China allowing imports of non-basmati rice as it already has its own varieties and as far as allowing imports of basmati rice is concerned, yes they have agreed to inspect our facilities, but there is no commitment that it will materialise into firm export orders,” Rajen Sundaresan, Executive Director, All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA) told Business Standard.

The NPPO will assist its Chinese counterpart AQSIQ during the inspection from September 19-28 for pest risk analysis and plant quarantine purposes to ensure that the non-basmati consignments from India will be pest-free, safe and of good quality.

Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), which is part of the Indian commerce ministry, is also involved in the process.

India had earlier sent the information sought by AQSIQ regarding the quality protocol and standard operating procedures.

India accounts for over 70% of the world's basmati rice production. However, it constitutes a small portion of the total rice produced in India. By volume, the share of basmati rice was around 6% in India’s total rice production in 2014-15. By volume, however, basmati rice exports accounted for 57% of India's total rice exports in 2014-15.

Studies show that basmati rice exports have increased at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27% from Rs 28.24 billion in 2004-05 to Rs 275.98 billion in 2014-15.

The proportion of basmati rice exports in India's total exports has increased from around 0.6% to around 1.3% during the last one decade.

While basmati rice is consumed across the globe, West Asian countries account for 75% of Indian basmati rice exports in 2014-15.

Within West Asia, Iran and Saudi Arabia are the two largest buyers, together accounting for over 50 per cent of basmati rice exports from India.

India’s goods trade deficit with China has surged from $1.1 billion in 2003-04 to $52.7 billion in 2015-16.

[GeneChing]

When GMOs become an international incident.

U.S. government worker pleads guilty in plot to steal rice for Chinese
REUTERS



By Julia Edwards

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A geneticist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture pleaded guilty on Monday to making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation when questioned about plans to send U.S. rice samples to China, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Wengui Yan, 61, of Arkansas admitted that a group of Chinese tourists in 2013 told him of their plans to steal engineered U.S. rice samples, but he first told investigators he had no knowledge of the plan.

The number of international economic espionage cases referred to the FBI is rising, up 15 percent each year between 2009 and 2014 and up 53 percent in 2015, according to the FBI.

Agricultural espionage, like the case involving Yan, allows thieves to reproduce genetically modified plants in China, skipping years of research and millions of dollars typically invested in development of the highly resistant seeds.

The majority of economic espionage cases reported involve Chinese nationals, a law enforcement official said in April, shortly after a Chinese man named Mo Hailong pleaded guilty to sending hybrid corn seeds stolen from Iowa fields back to China.

Yan refused to give the group of Chinese visitors rice seeds they requested because they were protected, but he did travel with them to a rice farm where he "knew they would have an opportunity to steal seeds," the Justice Department said in a statement.

Under Yan's plea agreement, he faces up to 20 months in federal prison.

(Reporting by Julia Edwards; Editing by Sandra Maler)

[GeneChing]

I got a repub version and traced it back to this earlier article.

Use these four tricks to identify toxic plastic rice

China remains the world's largest producer of rice. The Middle Kingdom harvests over 200 million tons per year and a large share of it gets exported all over the world. But cooks and diners alike should take care: not only are untold amounts of pesticides used in Chinese agriculture, but according to a report in The Korea Times rice is also now being manufactured artificially. Potato starch gets mixed with plastic (synthetic resin, for instance) and then formed into rice-shaped kernels. Finally the grains are steamed with a typical rice aroma. Doctors have emphatically warned against consuming the artificial product: three full portions apparently contain as much plastic as there is in a little plastic bag. That's alarming!

With these simple tricks you can test whether your rice is wholesome and plastic-free:

The Water Test


Youtube/Cartoons

Pour a tablespoon of uncooked rice into a glass with cold water and stir it vigorously. If the rice all sinks to the bottom of the glass, it's fine. If the grains float up to the surface, be careful!

The Fire Test


Youtube/Cartoons Mayank

Try setting a little bit of your rice on fire with a match or lighter. If it starts burning right away and smells like burning plastic, then you know what to do! (Do not eat it!)

The Mortar and Pestle Test


Youtube/Cartoons Mayank

When you crush a few grains of rice with a mortar and pestle they should be reduced to a fine, white, starchy powder. But with artificial rice, you will see a light yellow discoloration instead.

The Mold Test


Youtube/Cartoons Mayank

If you want to know for sure whether your cooked rice is quite safe, put a small quantity into an airtight container and leave it in a warm place. Within a couple of days it will have gotten moldy. Only fake rice stays mold-free.

Here's the video:


This is how to be on the safe side. Show these tricks to your rice-eating friends and that way no one will have to eat plastic for dinner!