Text 2182, 102 rader
Skriven 2010-09-29 21:18:00 av Glen Jamieson
     Kommentar till en text av Jim Weller
Ärende: RICE  00929
===================
 -=> Quoting Jim Weller to Glen Jamieson <=-

 JW> Wheat harvested in cool climates sometimes
 JW> has to be harvested early to avoid frost and requires additional
 JW> drying after harvesting to get the moisture level down to a level
 GJ> How is it dried?
 JW> In aerated silos with air shafts and fans at the base and a heat
 JW> source below the fan. Or rotating kilns. Use Google Images to search
 JW> for "grain dryer" The heating must be very gentle. As noted in the
 JW> previous message heat lowers the quality (and the price) of grain.
 GJ> Is it dried before, or after threshing?
 JW> Before.

All that extra work and power must increase the cost of production
considerably.

Here, harvesting is only done when the wheat is good and ready, dry in
the paddocks.  The combine harvester goes out, followed by a stream of
trucks.  The wheat is swallowed up at the front, the trash is spat out
behind, and the pure wheat goes out a chute on the side into trucks.
They take it to the silos, ready for shipping to the world.  If the
silos are full, it is left in a huge pile of 1000 tonnes or more, and
covered with black plastic until it can be shipped off.  No bags these
days - all movement is in bulk.
 
 GJ> My Australian rice comes in sealed plastic bags, so has uniform
 GJ> dryness throughout the year.
 JW> Until you open the bag.

Then I put it into a 2 kg plastic jug, and tie off the opening in the
10 kg plastic bag.
 
 GJ> Wouldn't it be easier to keep your rice in a sealed container
 JW> Most "sealed" containers aren't completely air tight. Plus i have to
 JW> remove the lid every time I want a cup of rice.

"Sealed" is enough to restrict the movement of moisture in either
direction, in or out of the container.  I certainly haven't noticed
any change in cooking characteristics of rice over a period of time,
regardless of changes in ambient air humidity.
 
 JW> It's not that complicated. It's actually very intuitive. Same thing
 JW> happens with bread dough as flour moisture content varies with
 JW> temperature and relative humidity.

I would expect finely ground flour to be far more responsive to
changes in ambient humidity than whole grains.
 
 GJ> A Japanese parliamentarian speaking in support of the expensive,
 GJ> subsidised local rice farming once claimed that Japanese stomachs were
 GJ> genetically attuned to only digest Japanese rice, and any imported
 GJ> rice would make them sick.
 JW> Typical bloody lobbyist/politician! If he had merely claimed that
 JW> Japan had a unique terroir and cultivar of rice, so that foreign
 JW> rice would seem inferior to their refined tastebuds, he might have
 JW> been more credible.

Japanese politics has been influenced by that high rice growing
subsidy, introduced during WW2 to encourage people to grow rice on
every bit of open land.  Now it is possible to see people with tiny
mechanical cultivators working narrow plots in between sky-scrapers.
Once they stop growing rice, they get hit by high land taxes.

 JW> What would they think of this rice dish?

 JW> Title: (AC) Nfld Bangbelly
 JW> Categories: Historical, Heirloom, Canadian
 JW> Servings: 4

 JW> 3 c  cooked rice
 JW> 1 c  flour
 JW> 1 c  molasses
 JW> 2 c  raisins
 JW> 1 1/4 c  salt pork cubed
 JW> 1 1/2 ts baking soda
 JW> 1 ts baking powder
 JW> 1 ts cinnamon
 JW> 1/2 ts allspice
 JW> 1/4 ts cloves
 JW> 1/4 ts mixed spice

 JW> Grease 9" x 9" pan with margarine.

 JW> Rinse 1 1/4 lb. of cubed salt pork in warm water. Partially pan fry
 JW> the salt pork. Allow to cool a little. Pour the fried pork and the
 JW> fat that rendered from it into the 3 cups of rice. Add the 1 cup of
 JW> molasses.

 JW> Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Add
 JW> to the pork/rice/molasses mixture and mix well. Add the raisins and
 JW> mix.

 JW> Pour into the 9" x 9" greased pans. Bake for 1 1/4 hours in a 350F
 JW> degree oven. When cool cut into squares.

Probably comment that ignorant foreigners would not know any better.


___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR]

--- FLAME v2.0/b
 * Origin: Braintap BBS Adelaide Australia (3:800/449)