Rice - the long and the short of it

Americans eat about six pounds of rice a year. But the average Indian gets through half a pound of rice each day, while in the Orient up to four hundred pounds a year is the norm. There are around 10,000 varieties of rice, though only some half dozen reach general stores. They can be roughly divided into four prime groups:

Long grain

Basmati, meaning 'queen of fragrance, or perfumed one', an Indian grain and the world's most costly, and Patna, an American grain, are the two main. Good Basmati has been aged for a year before sale to develop its nutty flavor.

Soak it before cooking, for between 30 minutes and 5 hours, depending on the recipe. For the best texture, wash off its starch in several changes of water.

(Consider, before you buy any other than Indian brands, that the growing of Basmati is the mainstay of small farming communities in the foothills of the Himalayas, many of them under the direction of local women. In 1997, RiceTec Inc, which had been trying to enter the international Basmati market with their cheaper American-grown Kasmati and Texmati brands, was granted a patent by the US Patent Office to label its rice Basmati within the US and for export. The impact of this decision upon the small farmers of India and Pakistan is that they stand to lose their 45,000 tonne export of genuine Basmati to the US market and their position in European, Middle East and West African markets.)

Patna is also improved by a brief wash, even the pre-treated grain. This rice is used in Latin American dishes and works well in Indonesian steamed rice recipes, taking well to being par-boiled first in coconut milk.

Medium grain

Carolina, the American grain used in 'Uncle Ben', grows not just in Carolina but in several other Southern states. It absorbs more liquid than long grain so works well in rice puddings. Arborio is a medium yellow Italian grain, essential in risotto, which turns white yet stays firm when cooked. It is also good in the moulded rice dishes of Greece, Turkey and Iran and in Iranian polos. Carnaroli and vialone nano are two other, superior, risotto rice grains.

Short grain

Arborio, Carnaroli and Vialone Nano are, in order of lesser to greater superioty, the only types of rice to use in risotto. Other short grains will not do. (See below). They are each Italian high-starch, short-grain rice (though Vialone Nano was developed in cooperation with the Japanese.) Their high starch level is gradually released with each small addition of boiling liquid to produce the creamy, al dente texture of the best risotto.

General short grain rice is only suitable for puddings as the amount of liquid it absorbs turns it into a creamy mass. If you  must use it for savory dishes, fry it first then bake it. Cooked on top of the stove, it will disintegrate. Flaked rice, also only for puddings, comes from short grain. In China, short grain river rice is used to make congee, the glutinous breakfast gruel to which small slices of meat, dried fish, vegetables and pickles are added.

Glutinous rice

Shorter and rounder than long grain, this is the rice eaten in Japan, where rice must be easily scooped up in round mouthfuls with chopsticks. It is also the rice for sushi.

Black rice is another glutinous rice, made by the Balinese into a seductive rice pudding with coconut and gula jawa - brown sugar from the juice of the coconut palm flower - and dusted with freshly-grated coconut.

Brown rice is unpolished rice that has only been milled once so retains its outer casing of the grain. This casing contains most of the grain's mineral, vitamin and fibre, making it more nutritious than polished rice.

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