Why Parboiled rice is the best solution for packed food manufacturers and restaurants?
Most chefs take pride in serving the best quality of Basmati long grain rice to their customers for its aroma, palpability, and texture appeal. Similarly packed food manufacturers use the same for longer-lasting customer relations and brand loyalty. Whereas the commercial manufacturers quick-freeze the cooked rice to offer a reasonable shelf life, the chefs at the restaurants resort to frequent reheating of cooked rice after hours of cold storage to avoid wastage and unwanted worry of customer complaints of stale rice or lack of Aroma. A few companies or chefs even go to the extent of meticulous planning, restocking, or even cooking fresh rice every shift.
Do you think you are in a similar situation? Are you looking to change this for good? Let’s understand what Parboiled rice is and how it can be more useful for you.
What is Parboiled rice?
Parboiled or Sella rice or converted rice as it is known, is partially pre-cooked in its inedible husk before being processed for eating. Parboiling is a step before milling the rice, which helps transfer and preserve the good nutrients of bran in the edible grains for added benefits.
The three main steps of parboiling are:
Soaking: Raw, husked rice, also called paddy, is soaked in warm water to increase the moisture content.
Steaming: The rice is steamed until the starch converts into a gel. The heat of this process also helps kill bacteria and other microbes. Upon cooling the gel-coated grain becomes hardened as compared to non-parboiled rice.
Drying: The rice is slowly dried to reduce the moisture content so that it can be milled.
Why Parboiled rice?
There are two reasons for which parboiled rice should be preferred:
It is easy to cook and more suitable for cold storing:
As explained above, the parboiled rice grains get coated by the gel that is converted from starch during the processing resulting in hardened grains as compared to the normal rice grains. They do not easily break while cooking even in tough conditions or upon being handled by relatively inexperienced individuals.
Further, the conversion of starch into gel makes the parboiled rice less sticky and presents fluffy separated kernels upon cooking. It becomes actually more presentable and attractive upon reheating/freezing.
It is healthier:
The parboiling process results in the retention of anti-oxidants and phenolic properties which are lost otherwise.
The process also forms prebiotic compounds which are beneficial for gut health and the large intestine.
The parboiled rice may not affect blood sugar as much as white rice, especially when frozen and reheated. Hence it is considered to be ideal for diabetic people
It contains higher Vitamin B3 (niacin- lowers cholesterol levels) and thiamine which is good for healthy gut and brain function
The parboiled rice is rich in calcium, potassium, iron, and manganese. Being rich in manganese helps lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart attacks. It also ups your intake of zinc that helps give your immune system a boost.
Downsides: Slightly lesser nutrition compared to Brown Rice.
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References:
#Rice consumption allowance for diabetics differs with every Individual case and doctors’ advice is highly recommended regarding the same.
