Rice is major cereal grain whose varieties are used as staple foods by people throughout the world. It is a unique of great antiquity and akin to progress in human civilization.
It may be the major as aspect of a diet, or incorporated into the main dish, side dish, or dessert and is commonly used in the preparation of ready to eat breakfast cereals.
Broadly, long and medium grain rice are used in or eaten with savory and main course dish. Short grain rice, in Western countries, is traditionally used for rice puddings.
American long-grain white rice is large, fluffy grain with a woody flavor. Glutinous white rice is short-grained very sticky and chewy rice used to make balls or sushi.
Rice is especially important to persons with wheat allergies and is commonly eaten as a first food by infants, as it offers the least cereal allergy.
Rice may be eaten as the whole grain, or polished shedding the bran. Rice bran has been used for cereal and baked goods and its water-soluble fiber is said to have cholesterol-lowering effects similar to those suggested with oat bran.
Generally, rice is polished during milling in order to remove the brown hull, which also removes some of the protein, vitamins and minerals.
Today, most white rice is enriched with vitamins and minerals, to add back nutrients lost in milling.
Rice a major cereal
