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5 different types of rice you need to know

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By Laura Díaz

Rice is one of the most popular and versatile foods in the world. It is classified into three main categories according to its size: short, medium and long grain with several qualities each. Its characteristics involve stickiness, aroma, texture, and flavor. Nutritional content can also differ among those types of rice. However, each one of them shares similar features in terms of cooking methods.

In fact, you can eat a different rice dish daily without getting bored of it. If you enjoy the art of cuisine and want to know much more about this wonderful grain, you will find quite interesting recipes in minuterice.com/recipes/microwave-egg-fried-rice/. You’ll be really surprised to realize how versatile it is.

Best rice varieties worldwide

Rice comes in different types and its production varies according to culture, health and eating habits, and world market demand. Below you can learn about five of the best rice species:

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Arborio Rice

It is a short-grain Italian rice. It is firm, creamy and tough, has a good taste and blends very well with other flavors. It is commonly used to make risotto because of their high starch content, which allows it to easily absorb liquid that gives risotto its characteristic thick consistency. You must avoid washing it since it will remove its sticky and starchy qualities.

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Basmati Rice

It is a long, thin-grained aromatic rice. It is usually grown in India and Pakistan. Grains are translucent, slightly creamy white, with a dry, firm texture. Upon cooking, the texture is still firm, non-sticky and tender without splitting. This characteristic derives from its rich amylose content.

The most important characteristic of Basmati rice is its aroma which arises from a mixture of 100 compounds. Flavor and texture complement curries because it is a drier rice and the grains stay separate.

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Bomba Rice

It is a short-grain variety, grown in the eastern part of Spain, and widely used in paella and other Valencian cuisine dishes . Grains are short, pearly white and contain amylopectin. This variety is known for its uniform consistency and non-sticking properties thanks to its high amylose content.

One important property of bomba rice is its ability to absorb two or three times its volume of water without bursting. Therefore, you require more water to cook the bomba than other related rice types. Another essential benefit is that they conserve their shape well after preparation.

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Jasmine Rice

It is a long-grain fragrant rice variety. Its particular smell comes from the natural production of aroma compounds by the rice plant. These smell mixtures dissolve after a few months in usual packaging and storage. This swift loss of fragrant quality causes Asians experts to select only the newly harvested crops of jasmine rice each year.

It is moist and soft when cooked, with a mildly sweet flavor. The grains cling and are rather sticky when baked since it has less amylopectin. Moreover, it is almost three times stickier than the typical long-grain rice grown in the USA.

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Sushi Rice

It is a white Japanese short-grain rice that, cooked and mixed with vinegar, sugar and salt from the rice, is then added to the sushi. It is round, pearly white or brown, and well-known for its stickiness, so you can easily pick them up with chopsticks. It absorbs much more liquids than medium or long grain types as well.

To sum up, there are different types of rice which vary in quality and nutritional content. In addition to calories, rice is an excellent source of minerals and vitamins; however it is low in fiber and fat. Some of the nutritional benefits of rice include control of diabetes and heart health, digestion improvement, and so on. White rice is more widely consumed because of cooking ease, taste, and above all, you can use it as part of a balanced diet oriented to improve your quality of life.

Arborio, Basmati, Bomba, Cooking, Culture, food, Jasmine, Rice, Sushi, Varieties

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