Brown Rice

[xen]

Might sound a stupid topic but my FIL is a rice farmer up in Siskaret and he regularly sends us rice (white jasmine) . We have been asking for brown rice - for health reasons , lower GI, better to offset diabeties and fills the stomach with less amongst other benifits. He says the mill cannot do brown rice. He says that is what they tell him and i guess he doesn't push the point further being a gentle man and not questioning what he is told. .

But brown rice is just white rice with the husk still on it and is one process less than producing white rice, Is it not? but in a country that charges you more for a 3 in 1 coffee mix that contains less sugar , then all types of logic and reason is possible.

My first wife told me that Thais don't eat brown rice because they feed prisoners in the monkey house brown rice but respectable people eat rice to indicate their "breeding" . That was many years ago so i am not too sure the stigma of brown rice is still attached.

Is there any other reasons we can't get brown rice from the source.??

Edited April 11, 2013 by xen

[galoubet]

The stigma around brown rice still exists. I too was told (many times by many Thais) about the "brown rice for prisoners". Lucky prisoners!

When I'm home in Kanchanaburi I always eat brown rice. I usually buy Tesco brown jasmine rice. Nice nutty flavour and the grains still stay separate after cooking unlike the mushy tasteless white stuff most Thais prefer.

However, when I return to the UK my Thai GF immediately reverts to white rice. But paradoxically she prefers wholemeal bread!

[Billmont]

My understanding is that brown rice still has the husk removed but possibly in Thai prisons leaving the husk on is purely a way of increasing bulk while saving the cost of the husk being removed. Brown rice has more fiber than white rice, and the difference is due to the way both types are processed. White rice is brown rice that has gone through some changes in the milling process. With brown rice, only the husk is removed. White rice is polished and pre-cooked or parboiled. The bran is also removed. The bran is kept intact in brown rice, and that bran gives you a healthy dose of fiber.

Brown rice contains nutrients like magnesium, manganese and zinc. White rice has less amounts of these nutrients, but is fortified with iron and some B vitamins. Brown rice is the only form of the grain that contains vitamin E.

I am certainly no authority on rice but personally I just prefer the tast and texture of brown rice and my Thai wife has no problem eating brown rice when I request it. Left to her own devices she will automatically cook white rice. Old habits die hard I suppose.

[Ticketmaster]

Your FIL is correct. We get our rice directly from my FIL's (to old to farm) rented farmland (rent trade). It is fully in the hull -- full seeds, unmilled. That is a good way to get it as you can store it for years. We get about 20 or 30 sacks every year and store it as we use it. White rice can also be stored a long time, but brown rice has a short shelf life; it will go rancid.

We eat only brown rice. I successfully converted the family. Whenever the brown rice storage tub is running low, we take a couple of sacks of the unmilled grain to a cooperative miller. Here's the deal. Milling brown rice is difficult. Some millers refuse to do it, or their machines cannot do it. The reason is that when you mill white rice, the machine completely strips of all the hull right down to the inner grain. When you mill brown rice, you strip if only part of the hull and leave the inner part; it s very difficult, I am told, to perform this partial milling. Think about trying to take off only the very thin orange part of an orange peel, leaving all the white subskin intact.

What's even more interesting is this. If we take our raw seeds and have them milled into white rice, it's free. The cooperative uses the chaff and the bran they strip off to make other products, so they keep that as their pay. But if we want them to mill our seeds to brown rice, we have to pay. You may have noticed brown rice is more expensive than whit in the store. This always baffled me until I learn what I have written above.

What you should do is try to locate a local miller than can mill your brown rice for you. I guarantee there is somebody nearby that can do it; you just have to find them. Then you can ask FIL to send you raw unmilled rice seeds. The milling process takes away nearly 50% of the volume, i.e., two sacks goes to one.

I suspect that in the old days, when rice was milled by hand, it was a lot more difficult to take in all the way down to a polished white grain. This is why brown rice is associated with the poor. While the advent of machines flip-flopped it, old beliefs die hard. People would rather be stylish than healthy.

[edwardandtubs]

The stigma only remains amongst yokels. Brown rice and mixed rice is now a health food fad amongst educated Thais.

[xen]

Thanks for all your replies , i have learnt a great deal about brown rice , I am also trying to convert the family to brown and i was thinking if we could get brown instead of white from my FIL then it would be perferable. I was also thing that it could be a nice little earner for my FIL but i am wrong about that.

My wife bought brown rice at Klongtan markets last night for 560 baht for 17 kilo,( one tung) . She says it is the same price as white jasmine there .

Cheers

Xen

[DekDaeng]

Love brown. Unf 'brown rice machine' near Sawang Daengdin 'broken'. 3 years or more!

Reading above posts, now I understand. ;-)

How long does brown keep? Will try to find it in Pattaya area.

Is red rice same as brown? i.e. unpolished, with inner skin on?

[Ticketmaster]

Six months is a good rule of thumb, though it may keep 18 months or more. An airtight container is best. Refrigeration will increase the shelf life. Things to consider: How old was it when you got it? Was it properly stored?

This also applies to coffee beans, which is why it is best to buy directly from the roaster.

[soidog2]

Brown rice has a more "woody taste" sometimes difficult to get used to, for people that ate white rice all their life.

Much easier to produce than white rice; less milling.

This days, small mills for home use are available; you'll be amazed at the difference between store bought and home milled.

[bunnydrops]

I grew about a rai of red this last season. I hear great things about (mostly antidota ). I like it, chewier, My wife and I eat it, the rest of the family will not. "not soft!" they say. Milled local, seems to be no problem but there seems to be more to cleaning it before cooking.

[xen]

Brown rice has a more "woody taste" sometimes difficult to get used to, for people that ate white rice all their life.

Much easier to produce than white rice; less milling.

This days, small mills for home use are available; you'll be amazed at the difference between store bought and home milled.

Hi Soidog2,

How much and where would you buy a small mill ? We could get a bag or two sent down from Siskaret at a time but we only live in a small appartment . I have a vision of it being like a butter churn size and manually operated by a handle . And it would have to work out cheaper than buying at 570 baht per tung. But it may be a viable option.

Edited April 16, 2013 by xen

[soidog2]

Apartment living will not do; at minimum, its the size of a large washing machine and noisy.

If supply is a problem, I can mill some for you anytime.

[DekDaeng]

Six months is a good rule of thumb, though it may keep 18 months or more. An airtight container is best. Refrigeration will increase the shelf life. Things to consider: How old was it when you got it? Was it properly stored?

This also applies to coffee beans, which is why it is best to buy directly from the roaster.

Thanks for the time. A practical oxygen free atmosphere might help for storing?

Talking coffee roasters, can recommend Benjamit Coffee facing Soi Bhukao Market (the Tuesday & Friday Market) , backing onto Pattaya Dai. Not far from Friendship Supermarket. Great Lattes, great beans.

[kikoman]

We buy rice by the sack un-milled, my wife takes it to the village miller and come back with brown rice and all of her family prefers the brown rice and most do not buy it because it is more expensive as they buy only Number 1 grade rice.

Cheers:

[rice555]

Hello All, try this thread.

rice555

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/415823-small-rice-milling-machine/

[Packdee]

There are three differnt kinds of brown rice.

Khao Deang (ข้าวแดง) is brown by it's genetic.

Even well polished by ricemill it still be brown.

This rice is the cheapest one when paltilly polished.

So this rice is for prissoner and soldier.

Photo credit : http://wowboom.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post_09.html

Khao Klong (ข้าวกล้อง) is partially polished rice.

This rice shoud be cheaper than the white one.

Photo credit : http://wowboom.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post_09.html

Khao Som Mua (ข้าวซ้อมมือ) the most expensive one.

This rice is taken the husk off by hand.

Photo credit : http://wowboom.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post_09.html

[DekDaeng]

I grew about a rai of red this last season. I hear great things about (mostly antidota ). I like it, chewier, My wife and I eat it, the rest of the family will not. "not soft!" they say. Milled local, seems to be no problem but there seems to be more to cleaning it before cooking.

Bunny - did you have it just skinned?, or skinned and polished?

[cooked]

Brown rice has a more "woody taste" sometimes difficult to get used to, for people that ate white rice all their life.

Much easier to produce than white rice; less milling.

This days, small mills for home use are available; you'll be amazed at the difference between store bought and home milled.

Hi Soidog2,

How much and where would you buy a small mill ? We could get a bag or two sent down from Siskaret at a time but we only live in a small appartment . I have a vision of it being like a butter churn size and manually operated by a handle . And it would have to work out cheaper than buying at 570 baht per tung. But it may be a viable option.

I looked at one costing ฿17 000.- last year, I later found out that it was an Australian machine, where it costs about half. Sorry, I have no more details but could go back to the place. I have a hand mill, takes about an hour to mill a Kilogram.

[xen]

Brown rice has a more "woody taste" sometimes difficult to get used to, for people that ate white rice all their life.

Much easier to produce than white rice; less milling.

This days, small mills for home use are available; you'll be amazed at the difference between store bought and home milled.

Hi Soidog2,

How much and where would you buy a small mill ? We could get a bag or two sent down from Siskaret at a time but we only live in a small appartment . I have a vision of it being like a butter churn size and manually operated by a handle . And it would have to work out cheaper than buying at 570 baht per tung. But it may be a viable option.

I looked at one costing ฿17 000.- last year, I later found out that it was an Australian machine, where it costs about half. Sorry, I have no more details but could go back to the place. I have a hand mill, takes about an hour to mill a Kilogram.

Cooked,

Just out of curiosity how much and where did you get your hand mill. Sounds like a lot of effort for 1 kilo .

[cooked]

I bought it in Switzerland when I discovered that freshly milled flour makes better bread than shop bought stuff. I must admit you get sick of it pretty quick. It cost about ฿2500.- I think, but I was earning Swiss income then.

[xen]

Thanks Cooked , I don't think i would be able to keep up the interest for a hour of grinding .

I have googled rice mills and there are some from China but i don't know if it would be worthile importing from there.

[jayci]

I bought it in Switzerland when I discovered that freshly milled flour makes better bread than shop bought stuff. I must admit you get sick of it pretty quick. It cost about ฿2500.- I think, but I was earning Swiss income then.

Sounds like fun. What is the make and model? Might try to track one down.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[cooked]

It's a Shindak Grain Crusher. 'Wheat, rye, Barley, buckwheat,, corn, rice (haven't ried that yet), soy,beans, peas, alfalfa and any other dry seed or legume'.

http://www.tootoo.com/d-rp22477470-grain-crusher/

[bunnydrops]

I grew about a rai of red this last season. I hear great things about (mostly antidota ). I like it, chewier, My wife and I eat it, the rest of the family will not. "not soft!" they say. Milled local, seems to be no problem but there seems to be more to cleaning it before cooking.

Bunny - did you have it just skinned?, or skinned and polished?

A late reply--been gone. I do both. I eat skinned mostly in the morning "khao Tum". I have the rest polished and use for dishes where the rice is more of a canvas for the favors. My wife and the "skinner"

[bunnydrops]

It's a Shindak Grain Crusher. 'Wheat, rye, Barley, buckwheat,, corn, rice (haven't ried that yet), soy,beans, peas, alfalfa and any other dry seed or legume'.

http://www.tootoo.com/d-rp22477470-grain-crusher/

My wife says that one is similar to the one the rice buyers use to check the rice rice before quoting a buying price.

[cooked]

I grew about a rai of red this last season. I hear great things about (mostly antidota ). I like it, chewier, My wife and I eat it, the rest of the family will not. "not soft!" they say. Milled local, seems to be no problem but there seems to be more to cleaning it before cooking.

Bunny - did you have it just skinned?, or skinned and polished?

A late reply--been gone. I do both. I eat skinned mostly in the morning "khao Tum". I have the rest polished and use for dishes where the rice is more of a canvas for the favors. My wife and the "skinner"

Yes, bad memories for my wife who did stuff like this when she was 10 years old. Thanks to the OP, I will try to get back to basics.

In medieval Europe only poor people ate non white bread, took a few hundred years for people to realise the benefits of whole wheat / brown bread, probably because their teeth had rotted away at an early age.