Rice cultivation and types of nutritious grains

white rice

This rice is made by scraping off the entire outer layer of brown rice, leaving only the starchy endosperm.

It's soft and allows you to enjoy the natural sweetness of the rice.

It has the same energy and protein content as other rice, but the nutritional value of dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals has been lost.

brown rice

Brown rice is rice that has been threshed from the husk before it is polished. You can get all the nutrients from rice (dietary fiber, vitamin E, vitamin B1, etc.), but because it is rich in dietary fiber, it has a crumbly, crunchy texture.

You also need to use cooking methods that are specifically for brown rice.

The photo on the right is an enlarged view of brown rice.

The brown part in the photo is brown rice, and the surface is the bran layer.

The white dot at the tip is the germ, and this is where the sprout will emerge. This is where a lot of nutrients are packed.

From the time of export to Japan until the day of delivery, Inazoumai is stored in this brown rice state at a cool temperature to slow deterioration.

Polished rice with germ

Inazou Rice Store recommends " germ polished rice ." The fiber (bran layer) that makes brown rice lumpy is removed by about half, making it much easier to eat. It also contains 4 to 8 times more vitamin E and B1 than white rice.

Inazo Rice Store 's germ rice is polished to nearly 7 minutes, making it much easier to eat.

It can be cooked in the same way as white rice and is delicious.

Black rice morning purple

It is made from glutinous brown rice, but it is soft and easy to eat.

The main component of the black color is the antioxidant polyphenol, which dissolves when cooked, turning the rice purple.

We recommend mixing about one tablespoon of this powder with one cup of white rice or germ-polished rice while cooking.

Since this is brown rice, it is recommended to soak it in water only for the amount you will be cooking.

Glutinous barley (Kusumochi Nijo)

New in 2019, this is a new variety of sticky wheat with a vibrant light yellow color.

10g of 100g contains dietary fiber. Of this, 6.7g is beta-glucan, which activates immune cells. Brown rice contains insoluble dietary fiber, which absorbs water, expands, and cleanses the intestines. This is mainly insoluble dietary fiber, which serves as food for good bacteria.

It has neither the distinctive smell nor the distinctive taste of barley that is common in pressed barley or nine varieties of glutinous barley.It has a clear taste that does not interfere with the flavor of rice and allows you to fully enjoy the texture.

Germinated brown rice

Brown rice usually requires rinsing in a metal colander and soaking for a long time to soften.

Germinated brown rice contains nearly five times the amount of GABA found in brown rice, and is gelatinized (turned into starch) using high-temperature steam and high-frequency waves, and then dried to make it easier to eat.

GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that works in the brain, so if you're feeling less calm than usual, you may be lacking this nutrient.

You can mix it with white rice and enjoy it.

Brown rice and germ rice are the best for dieting while eating!

Brown rice/ground rice contains a lot of soluble dietary fiber, which makes it digest more slowly than white rice and slows down the secretion of insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels.

If the blood sugar rise rate (IG value) when ingesting glucose is set at 100, the IG value of white rice is 86. On the other hand, the IG value of brown rice is 56 and that of polished rice is 58, which are quite different from white rice.

Too much insulin secretion can lead to diabetes, so a diet that focuses on low insulin can help prevent diabetes.

Also, because brown rice/crushed rice is digested slowly and the satiety center is stimulated for a long period of time, it is said to keep you full longer than white rice, and because the supply of carbohydrate energy to the brain is slower, it is easier to maintain concentration.

In particular, although the texture and sweetness of unpolished rice are not as good as those of white rice, when you consider its nutritional value and ease of eating, it is not inferior to white rice.

Please try it once, even if you think you'll be fooled. You'll find that plain rice just isn't enough for you.

In fact, it wasn't until after the war that eating white rice became common.

In the past, the quality of rice polishing machines was poor, and it was impossible to polish a large amount of rice in a short time. Apparently, brown rice was put into a one-liter bottle and children would poke it with a stick or something to slowly turn it into white rice.

Such time-consuming food was the food of nobles and feudal lords. White rice, which is easy to eat, was a luxury food. On the other hand, it contains almost no vitamins and is mostly starch, which is a source of energy, so although it is delicious, it has little nutritional value.

Therefore, in the past, white rice was actually one of the biggest causes of lifestyle-related diseases. Unlike today's diabetes, which is caused by obesity and excessive sugar intake, in the past, this disease was called "beriberi."

Beriberi is a disease caused by a lack of vitamin B, which causes various physical disorders. During the time of Columbus's great voyages, sailors who lacked vegetables were constantly plagued by beriberi.

Brown rice contains five to six times more vitamin B1 and vitamin E than white rice. When white rice is made, the surface of the brown rice is scraped off to make it easier to eat, and most of these vitamins are found in the scraped off parts.

It is said that feudal lords and aristocrats, who ate mainly white rice, were prone to illness due to vitamin deficiencies, while farmers and townspeople, who were considered to be simple and poor, ate brown rice and were therefore free from beriberi.

There is also a very interesting episode from the time of the Russo-Japanese War.

The Japanese military provided white rice as rations. However, it is said that when soldiers went to the battlefield, many of them were unable to fight properly due to beriberi caused by vitamin deficiency. At the time, ordinary people got most of their nutrition from four cups of brown rice per day. Brown rice was preferable to white rice for military rations.

You may feel a lack of energy and fatigue...these are actually symptoms of beriberi, and even if your diet seems satisfactory at first glance, it may actually simply be due to nutritional deficiencies.

In Miyazawa Kenji's time, people regularly ate "four cups of brown rice, miso paste, and a little bit of vegetables a day," and in fact, this was enough to meet their nutritional needs.

Four cups of brown rice is 600g of rice, and there are 6.5g of protein per 100g, so that alone provides about 40g of protein. Miso is a soybean paste, which also contains protein. Unlike today's standard vegetables, these "little vegetables" were 100% organic, grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, so even though they looked bad, they were said to be very sweet and packed with nutrients.