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Re: crockpot and chicken
i use my crockpot all during the winter,...
Rice Rocks
Forms and Varieties of Rice
Oh, the joys of rice. It’s one of the few foods in the world which is entirely non-allergenic. It is also free of gluten, fat, cholesterol, and sodium. Rice can be cooked whole and served with stir-fries, sauces, and curries or made into flour, wine, cakes, vinegar, milk, flakes, noodles, paper, and tea.
Rice comes in multiple varieties, offering a number of cooking options. Rice varieties are classified primarily by the size of its grain:
Long-grain rice is long and slender. The grains stay separate and fluffy after cooking, so it is the best choice if you want to serve rice as a side dish or as a bed for sauces.
Medium-grain rice is shorter and plumper and works well in paella and risotto.
Short-grain rice is almost round, with moist grains that stick together when cooked. It's the best choice for rice pudding and molded salads.
Spanish rice is used for paella; glutinous rice is used for sushi and rice balls; and risotto rice is used for risotto.
Most varieties of rice are sold as either brown or white rice, depending upon how they are milled:
Brown rice retains the bran that surrounds the kernel, making it chewier, nuttier, and richer in nutrients. Brown rice takes about twice as long to cook as white rice.
White rice lacks the bran and germ, but is more tender and delicate. It's less nutritious than brown rice, but you can partially compensate for that by getting enriched white rice.
Converted rice is beige. It tastes a lot like white rice, but it has more nutrients.
Instant rice is white rice that's been precooked and dehydrated. It's convenient, but expensive and bland.
Did You Know?
- More than two-thirds of the world's population relies on the nutritional benefits of rice.
- Rice is the most important food crop in Asia.
- Cultivation of rice began in America in 1685 when planter Dr. Henry Woodward received rice seed as a gift from Captain John Thurber, whose damaged ship from Madagascar was docked in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. By 1726, Charleston was exporting more than 4,000 tons of rice a year.
- In Burma, a person eats 500 pounds of rice a year - an astonishing figure when it is reduced to a daily consumption of 1 1/4 pounds per day.
- The United States has always been more of a rice exporter than a rice consumer.
