[Sca-cooks] Brown vs. White rice

[kingstaste at mindspring.com]

Having just taught a class on whole grains, and about to launch into the
Lenten Fast (actually, I've already started, I just haven't 'broken my fast'
this morning yet), I am pondering the question of rice this morning.  In a
quick search of the Florilegium, I came across the message below.  I know
we've discussed this in the past, but I'm wondering if we ever came to some
sort of concensus about this: was white or brown rice more prevalent in our
period?  Is the assertion below regarding the use of white rice in England
vs. brown rice in the Middle East supportable?
Christianna


 History of Rice

Bertram, I think, asked about the history of rice. According to "On
Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee, which seems to be a very careful
and scholarly work:

"Rice ... is a native of the Indian subcontinent (a minor species
that bears red grain is native to Africa) ... . It is said that
Alexander the Great introduced rice to Europe around 300 B.C., though
it was not until the 8th century that the Moors first grew large
quantities in Spain."

He also discusses the milling of rice, which is relevant to the
question of whether what was served at a feast would be brown rice or
white rice:

"First the hull is removed, leaving what we call brown rice, or the
intact kernel covered with the bran layers. Next, an abrasive process
removes the bran and most of the germ ... and the result is milled,
unpolished rice. Polishing in a wire-brush machine removes the
aleurone layer which, with its high fat content, would otherwise
limit the storage life of the grain."

It sounds from his discussion of the history as though, prior to
about the 19th century, when mechanical milling and polishing
techniques were developed, white rice "was valued because it was
difficult to produce by hand, was scarce, and kept well ... ." This
suggests that in places like England, where rice was expensive
because it had to be transported a long way, they might well have
used white rice, both because the long shelf life would be especially
important and because the additional labor cost would be less
important with something that was already expensive and used in small
quantities. In the islamic world, on the other hand, where rice was
presumably cheaper and much more widely used, one would expect brown
rice to be the norm and white rice to be used only by wealthy people.

Does anyone have any direct evidence on this?

Cariadoc/David