Last year's food crisis saw restrictions placed on the number of bags or rice consumers could purchase at some retailers. While bags of rice are a staple in many households, you may be surprised at how common rice cereal is, especially for children. While it doesn't dominate the cold breakfast cereal market the way wheat and oats do, rice cereal still plays a valuable part in starting kids off on the right foot from the perspective of a healthy diet.
History of Rice
While historians can't pinpoint exactly when and where rice was first cultivated, it is widely believed that India was the country in which rice was discovered around 4530 BC. The first written mention of rice was in 2800 BC by Shen Nung, a Chinese emperor. Thailand is also considered a potential location where rice may have originated.
Rice was later introduced in Europe and the Americas thanks to travelers who introduced the crop seeds. The best estimate of rice first appearing in America is 1694, when a British ship heading for Madagascar was blown off-course and ended up in Charleston, South Carolina. After colonists successfully helped repair the boat, the ship's captain expressed his gratitude by bestowing the gift of rice seed upon the group. However during the American Revolution, the British occupied the same area in South Carolina and sent the entire supply of harvested rice home. It was until President Thomas Jefferson supposedly illegally smuggled rice seed of out of Italy that rice made its reappearance in North America.
Rice Facts
Rice is an extremely important staple food crop - in fact, half of the world's population depends on it as a source of nutrition. Despite the fact that there are over 40,000 different varieties of rice grown in different parts of the world, only 100 of those are actually grown on a worldwide scale, and only 10 per cent are marketed and sold.
Rice is grown on every continent except for Antarctica, and in more than 100 countries. Climate plays a hugely significant role in the successful production of rice, and some locations such as Britain do not have sufficient conditions to cultivate it. China's northern region experiences very mild weather patterns and does not have the appropriate climate to successfully grow rice. Speaking of China, the same word they use for food is also the word they use for rice.
Of the world's rice supply, a whopping 96 per cent of it is eaten in the same country it is grown in. The average resident of the U.S. eats about 25 pounds of rice per year; the average Burma citizen eats about 500 pounds on an annual basis, which actually works out to about one-and-quarter pounds per day. Though rice isn't consumed as much in the U.S. as other countries, an interest in ethnic cuisines such as Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese have led to the rice consumption in the country doubling in the past decade. Unlike other major crops such as wheat, rice is considered hypoallergenic and is gluten-free.
Over one hundred countries import rice every year. Of the total rice traded, over three-quarters is of the long grain variety. Approximately 2.5 million tons of aromatic rice and 100,000 tons of glutinous rice are traded each year.
While there are thousands of varieties of rice, they are generally divided into a few categories: long grain, medium grain, short grain and aromatic are a few of the common ones. Jasmine and basmati rice are examples of aromatic rice.
Rice in cereal
Snap, Crackle and Pop are the characters (and the phrase) associated with one the most famous rice-based cereal, kid-favorite Rice Krispies (which are known as Rice Bubbles in Australia).
Rice cereal is generally the first recommended solid food to give to babies after breastfeeding or formula, as it is the least likely to cause an allergic reaction. Rice cereal for babies is generally mixed with breast milk, formula or water to provide substance and density as the child's digestive system develops.
You can even make your own rice cereal using fresh or leftover rice. Heat it in a saucepan with milk, margarine, a little salt. Add flavor with cinnamon, brown sugar or dried fruit such as raisins or dates. The rice absorbs the liquid as it cooks and makes it creamy.
» RiceAssociation.org