So, my first time at the grocery store in Liberia, bought some rice, cooked it, put the rice bag in a Ziploc bag – pretty uneventful. A few days later I looked at the bag and saw two very small bugs crawling inside the bag towards the top. I was like, “How did they get in there?!? I thought I sealed the bag all the way…” I killed them, made sure the ziploc bag was closed and put it in the fridge for safe keeping.
The next time I cooked rice, after it was boiling on the stove I saw 5 or 6 of the same kind of small bugs floating in the top of the water!!! I was like, “What is going on here?!?” I googled it to see what the bugs were, if I needed to be concerned, if the rice should be thrown away or if I could scoop the bugs out and still eat it. (In America I think my first reaction would have been to throw it out, but living around people who don’t get enough food to eat every day kinda changes your perspective. I also have had to become a little more go with the flow with eating here - lol)
I have never experienced the bugs in the rice phenomenon, but apparently everyone else in the world knows that you should wash your rice. In America the rice is sprayed to kill the bugs, but in other parts of the world, you wash your rice or just get extra protein… Mmm…
Washing it just involves rinsing it in water a number of times. The number of times seems to depend on the kind of rice and where you are in the world, but washing it gets rid of the bugs that may be in it as well as dirt and excess starch. It actually improves the quality of the rice. Since I’d already started cooking my rice and found that the bugs aren’t harmful, I scooped out them out, let the rice water boil a little longer than usual, said a prayer and ate it. J No complaints.
The next time I made rice, I rinsed it 3 times. I saw recommendations for everything from 2 – 9 times or to just put it under running water until the water is clear. The water isn’t safe to drink here, so I couldn’t do the latter, but I figured I’d rinse it until the water looked ok. The first time the water was really cloudy and bugs floated to the top. The second time it was clearer and only a few bugs. The last time it was pretty clear, so I let the rice sit for a bit, stirring it with my hand from time to time to make sure nothing was trying to hang on and then cooked it. SUCCESS!!! Not only were there no bugs, but the texture and taste were so much better!! Learn somethin new everyday!
Most dry goods have the larvae of bugs in them. Here we call them weevils when we see them. A long time ago, I read that freezing dry goods first kills the larvae and you don't get weevils. I started doing this and have never encountered them in anything since. When I buy rice, pancake mix, etc., I put the entire package in the freezer.
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Chloe, that's so funny! Growing up in Brazil, I learned to always wash the rice at least three times before cooking it, and I've been doing here in the US without thinking much of it. It just gets rid of the starch, but I never knew the rice here is sprayed! I learned something new too, by reading your blog! :)
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