No other agricultural product exists that, for the same area of cultivated land, can feed as many people as rice. Its ear yields twice as many grains as that of wheat; it is no coincidence, then, that China is considered its land of origin — a country generous in supplying the constant quantities of water that rice needs to submerge its roots.

In our country, rice consumption is second only to wheat; since it contains no gluten, it cannot be used for bread-making, but, conversely, it is very well tolerated by those who suffer from an intolerance to this protein.

An excellent food for its digestibility and energy value, rice is composed predominantly of starch (approximately 87%), which has a different structure from wheat starch and is absorbed more quickly.

The protein fraction ranges from 4 to 18% depending on the various species and on factors related to soil, climate, and harvesting and processing conditions. Lipids, present at approximately 1–2%, are found in the germ.

In Italy, almost exclusively polished rice is used — that is, rice stripped of its outer coatings (the husks) and subjected to a series of processes that deplete it of much of its vitamin content and mineral salts.

Brown or wholegrain rice, which retains the husks and keeps the other nutrients intact, is less easy to store than polished rice but is undoubtedly richer in proteins, mineral salts and fibre. It is generally better suited to soups than to risottos and requires a longer cooking time.

An interesting middle ground between wholegrain and refined rice is husked paddy rice, also known as semi-wholegrain rice: husking is the first process — purely mechanical in nature, not chemical — that rice undergoes on its long journey towards polishing, or complete refining. Although the husks are removed, part of the outer fibres of the pericarp (bran) is still retained. The rice cooks more quickly and is more tender, while preserving much of its nutritional properties.

Brown rice, or parboiled rice, finally, is subjected to a technological steam-cooking process in order to allow a lower loss of vitamins and mineral salts during cooking.

Loredana Filippi

Journalist specialising in natural nutrition