Rice: A Powerhouse of Nutrients, A Time-Honored Ancient Grain. Learn How To Cook It The Right Way

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Rice is one of the oldest cereal grains and is believed to have been grown for at least 5000 years. It is a staple food for more than half of the world’s population. The most commonly consumed type of rice is the White rice but brown (whole grain) rice is becoming increasingly popular due to its health benefits. Rice that is high in amylose, such as basmati rice, does not stick together after cooking so it is considered one of the best varieties. Rice is composed of carbs, with small amounts of protein and virtually no fat. Carbs in rice are mainly in the form of starch, the most common form of carbohydrates in foods. 

Today you can buy a variety of rice cookers made from different materials but the most ancient way of cooking rice is still the healthiest – cooking in earthen pots. Our ancestors used metals for making tools, weapons and other similar stuff but never cookware. They were seemingly quite satisfied with clay pot cooking or probably more conscious and aware than us in choosing the healthiest material for cooking rice and other foods. How right they were – we are slowly getting to know this with experience. 

It is a human tendency to keep experimenting with the new stuff and we did the same thing with cookware by using different metals. But we ignored the fact that all metals are reactive and the food is a biochemical entity. The cooking process is actually a series of reactions that convert raw food into cooked at increased temperature. Cooking rice in a reactive material like metals makes metal ions leach and react with nutrients to form compounds that are toxic and are of no nutritional value in the body. These keep accumulating in the body when ingested regularly and make you sick.

The Best Way of Cooking Rice

When you are cooking rice – a food of great nutritional value, it is important to choose the right cookware else you may face health problems like spikes in blood sugar levels. This happens due to an excess of simple carbs – a side effect of cooking in metals and ceramics that destroy complex carbs with their harsh heat, leaving just the simple carbs. No wonder diabetes is so common these days. 

Cooking with food-friendly far infrared heat from clay makes sure the balance of simple and complex carbs stays intact and your wisely chosen rice nourishes your body instead of overloading it with a single nutrient. Also, this naturally inert material doesn’t leach toxins like metals and ceramics so you can be sure that you are having 100% non-toxic rice. This is what makes a pure clay pot an ideal rice cooker.

AUTHOR’S NOTES: Hi this is Sachin and I hope you liked my article. Rice cooked in pure clay pots is not only non-toxic and nutrition-rich but also delicious, it doesn’t turn out mushy like in conventional rice cooker. Want to try this ancient and time-tested way of rice cooking? Head over to MEC Store and choose a pure clay pot to cook rice the healthiest and the best way!