Parboiled Rices

Parboiling is an ingenious technique for increasing both the nutritional value and the keeping qualities of polished rice. It dates back many centuries and seems to have been developed in southern India. Many people in Bengal, Bangladesh, South India, and Sri Lanka eat parboiled rice as their staple plain rice.

Parboiling is done at both the village and the industrial level in the Subcontinent. Rice still in the husk is soaked, then boiled, then cooled. This has the effect of driving vitamins from the bran into the center of the rice. The rice is then husked (the hulls are removed) and milled (polished) to white. Though milled, it retains much of the nutritional value of unpolished (brown) rice. Parboiled rice takes a little longer to cook than “unboiled” rice (because the starches, once heated, become glassy and hard when they cool), and when cooked the grains stay very separate, with a slightly bouncy texture.