Brown Rice Storage

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I seem to remember a post a few weeks ago that mentioned that brown rice is only good for about 6 months. Is there any truth to that? What if it is packed just like wheat? I really like brown rice and don't like the regular white rice. How has everyone else been storing their rice????

-- jeanne (jeanne@hurry.now), April 24, 1999

Answers

J, I was told by the folks at the Mormon Cannery that brown rice (and tangentally any nut) contains too much oil and will not store for long regardless of canning procedure. I have made no effort to do independent analysis.

Am I getting addicted to this forum... two posts in the same week... on the same day? Oh nooo......

-- Uhm... (jfcp81a@prodigy.com), April 24, 1999.


I'm not lurking on the sidelines as much. I, the wallflower, am speaking up more and more too. I guess it will take up as much of your time as you let it.

Jeanne, Are you using food grade buckets? Have you considered oxygen absorbers? One person said their oxy absorbers were melting the plastic bags their rice was in, so she went ahead and dumped the bags of rice straight into the buckets with the oxy absorbers. Another person says her grandmother told her to place a stick of Wrigley's Spearmint Gum in bags of grain to keep them from getting weevils. Also, some folks have posted that they freeze their grains for several days, take the grains out for two weeks and then freeze them again for several days.

This is an aside, but I just checked a plastic box of medications I have packed. It reeked of Safeguard soap b/c I had put one in thinking it was a toiletry. Well! I took it out. Don't need the acetiminophen and expectorant tasting like soap.

-- Wallflower (y2kwallflr@aol.com), April 24, 1999.


Jeanne, I think I'm the one that made the post about brown rice only being good for 6 months. I got this off of another forum, Y2K News Magazine, which had quite a lot of knowledgeable people on it when it came to food storage. The fellow said that oxy absorbers wouldn't make any difference with brown rice. I bought 25# back in Nov., so I getting ready to throw it out. I haven't found a thing that says otherwise, but I may go to GN's Food Storage and ask Al Durtchi; he works for a large food storage company, I think.

If anyone finds out otherwise, please let us know.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), April 24, 1999.


Thanks everyone! I have been packing my wheat/rye,etc by dusting with DE, then about 10 lbs per foil mylar bag, with 2 or 3 300 cc oxygen absorbers per bag.I was thinking of getting at least 100 lbs of brown rice - but will wait to hear further info on this board before ordering it. If not brown rice, what kind is the next most nutritious?

-- jeanne (jeanne@hurry.now), April 24, 1999.

Quoting from the Survival Center Food Storage FAQ,

http://www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/ff1-toc.htm

Brown Rice This is whole grain rice with only the hull removed. It retains all of the nutrition to be found in rice and has a pleasant nutty flavor when boiled. From a nutrition standpoint it is by far the best of the rices to put into storage, but it has one flaw: The essential oil in the germ of the rice is very susceptible to oxidation and soon goes rancid. As a result, brown rice has a shelf life of only about six months from the date of purchase unless given special packaging or storage processing. Freezing or refrigeration will greatly extend its storage life. It's also possible to purchase brown rice from long term food suppliers specially packaged in air tight containers with an inert nitrogen atmosphere. In this kind of packaging, (if properly done), the storage life of brown rice can be extended for years.

-- de (dealton@concentric.net), April 24, 1999.



Jeanne---Thanks for your thread on brown rice. Is this the same as short grain rice. Another question,---How do you cook your brown rice.

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), April 24, 1999.

thinkican, brown rice comes in both short grain and long grain varieties. The short grain is sweeter and chewier (I prefer it) but they are both very good.

I too heard about the 6-month storage limit for brown rice, somewhere.

Gold Mine Natural Foods in San Diego, CA has Lundberg organic brown rice (short grain) in 5 gallon plastic pails packed in mylar and nitrogen i.e. for long term storage, for about $1.50 a pound [including the pail :-) ] This is very expensive, but top nutrition and taste. mmmmmmmm... (this is not a commercial plug). It's worth it to me to get it pre-packed because of the uncertainty about self-storing brown rice.

OTOH Smart & Final has 25-lb. bags of non-organic long-grain brown rice for less than half that, which I bought, but then I don't know how long it was sitting around at the store. It seems fine right now. I'll take a chance, pack it myself, and use it up first. I will be using 5-gal. pails with mylar liners w/ an oxy absorber inside. (instead of any nitrogen)

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), April 24, 1999.


The oil in the husk of the brown rice is a low density lipoprotein LDL(the bad cholesterol) and is subject to self-oxidation. Therefore, even in an inert atmosphere (pure CO2 or nitrogen) it will still degrade quickly, though a little slower. It will go rancid fairly quickly and therefore produce plenty of free radicals. Eating foods with lots of free radicals will supress the immune system. Rice oil is classified as a tropical oil (boo - hiss the villian). If you remove the husk you get white rice which is good for a year or two, maybe.

Cold weather crops (ones that the seed has to winter over until spring) generally have high density lipoproteins HDL (the good cholesterol). They usually also contain various anti-oxidents too, example wheat seeds have lots of vitamin E in the wheat germ oil. This is why wheat that is thousands of years old is still good to eat or plant.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), April 24, 1999.


Hello thinkIcan: I use two cups of chicken broth and one cup rice - start to boil then slowly simmer about 30-45 minutes. Chopped up green onions are good to add - or chopped chicken(then add more liquid),etc. Left overs are good for stir fry with beaten egg(Thai style) & more veggies.

-- jeanne (jeanne@hurry.now), April 24, 1999.

Brown rice will keep twice as long at 60 degrees as at 70, so if you have a cool basement (or want to bury buckets in the ground) it will keep much longer. We have used plastic to close off a corner of our basement that is now 60 degrees.

-- Shivani Arjuna (odnsmall@aol.com), April 25, 1999.


All I know is that I have been eating brown rice for years. I know that the brown rice that I have normally stored in glass jars on my cupboard shelves has lasted more than 6 months without going rancid. And, yes, I am planning on storing Brown rice in 6 gallon buckets in a mylar bag with oxygen absorbers. I freeze it first for a few days and make sure I pack it with bay leaves.

Am also storing quinoa in the same way.

-- Libby Alexander (libbyalex@aol.com), April 26, 1999.


Brown rice is incredibly tasty, nutritious & filling. It really sticks to the ribs. Talk about good eatin'. I also use it as a staple in the diet I feed my dogs. They are thriving on it!

Long grain cooks up fluffier & less sticky than short grain. Six months is a good ballpark figure for storage life. A good alternative is white basmati rice. Stores for years. I buy mine at Costco. More expensive than regular white, but the taste is simply outstanding!

I bought 100 lbs. of regular white rice for those who come a knockin'. My family gets to eat the basmati & brown rice.

Best of luck,

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), April 26, 1999.


Jeanne----Thank you for the instructions on cookomg the brown rice. Just started eating brown rice because of Y2K. Sure has a great taste. Why I asked the question was that the rice always seemed a little chewy as if it was not cooked. Put it in my Bush Cooker for many hours and it still came out chewy. Now I know its the nature of the beast. Thanks again.

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), April 26, 1999.

Gilda,

There is no need to throw away that brown rice. Make it and eat it. A great book I read is called Making the Best of the Basics by a guy named Stevens. He says to store what you eat and eat what you store. Really good advise.

I always consider everything in my food storage as supplies for daily cooking. If you aren't rotating the food into your daily use, it will cost you a fortune to maintain a reasonable food storage.

The following sounds like a commercial plug. I justify it because all the proceeds go to charity. Check out my food storage and rotation database at http://www.srv.net/~jlayman/ It will help you make sure nothing ever spoils again.

-- John Layman (jlayman@srv.net), May 11, 1999.


John:

Wow, that is a great database idea. And for $10, I couldn't even think of writing it myself. It looks like you have thought of everything. My checks in the mail.

Micky

-- Micky Johnson (Micky1244@AOL.COM), May 17, 1999.



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