There are always surprises in life. As I began to write about cooking rice and analyzing the different cooking methods, I found that a major concern about cooking and eating rice is the amount of arsenic contamination there is in rice! The point I was going to make was that I always got soggy and stuck rice in the bottom of my pot, but if you prepare the rice in a way that reduces the amount of arsenic, you will also eliminate the stuck rice in the bottom of the pot.
Arsenic is a poison. It has been used in pesticides and herbicides, thereby contaminating soil and water. There are two types of arsenic, organic arsenic found in plant and animal tissues, and inorganic arsenic, a more toxic form, found in rocks, soil, and water. Rice has 10-to-20 times higher levels of inorganic arsenic than other grains due to the way it grows; in water and closely associated with wet soils it absorbs arsenic more readily.
Long-term exposure to arsenic can cause skin lesions, dementia, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and nerve problems.
It turns out that Basmati and Jasmine rice have lower levels of arsenic. Brown rice has higher levels, but is more nutritious. It does not make any difference if the rice is organically or commercially grown. Other rice products can have high levels of arsenic such as rice milk, rice bran, rice-based breakfast cereals, baby rice cereal, rice crackers, cereal bars with rice/rice flour, and brown rice syrup.
Cooking All Types of Rice
Instructions
- Rinse the rice well, rubbing the grains to get the excess starch off them. Rinse for 4 to 5 changes of water until the water is clear
- Soak in water overnight, discard the soaking water before cooking.
- Cook the rice in a large pot of boiling water, much like cooking pasta, using 5 to 6 parts of water to rice. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, testing for doneness as you would pasta.
- Drain well and rinse with hot water before serving.
Notes
A very informative article about rice and the evaluation of the amount of arsenic in many brands can be found in the November 2012 issue of Consumer Reports. According to Consumer Reports, the best choices for rice with the lowest amount of arsenic can be found in the Basmati rice from California, India, and Pakistan. Rice from most other US states have higher levels. The potential side-effects of arsenic ingestion are “dosedependent”,in other words, the more you eat the higher your risk. It is suggested that you limit your intake of rice to once a week. Some alternatives to rice include orzo (rice-shaped pasta), farro, barley, couscous, bulgur, and quinoa.
