The more you wash rice, the less nutritious it is? Test 6 bottles of rice washing water to help you find the right way

Every time I cook at home, one second before I want to pour out the rice water, my mother will rush over with a stainless steel basin:

"Don't waste it! This rice water is full of essence, I'm saving it for use!"

Em... What's the essence of this? I didn't dare to say it, I didn't dare to ask, I could only watch my mother take away the rice water.

This time, Dad’s review will help you and your parents explain it clearly——

What is in rice washing water? How to wash rice without losing nutrients? Can rice washing water be reused?

01

What's in rice water?

The white rice water looks very nutritious.

In fact, rice water is white because the starch dissolved in the rice dyes it white.

Take the starch at home and add some water directly. The color will be much whiter than rice washing water.

More than 99% of rice water is water, with only very small amounts of starch, protein, minerals and vitamins.

02

The correct way to wash rice

In fact, sometimes the elders are quite conflicted. On the one hand, they want to utilize the "essence" in the rice washing water, but on the other hand, they worry that washing rice will cause the nutrients in the rice to be lost.

Practice makes perfect. In order to find out how to wash rice, our food researcher designed an experiment to study:

Take 200 grams of rice and wash it three times with 1 liter of tap water, either by rubbing or not, for 30 seconds each time. Send the unwashed rice and the rice washing water to a third-party laboratory for testing.

Note: 1. Take tap water as a blank sample to eliminate the interference of nutrients in the water.

2. The rice used in the experiment is the 2021 Northeast Daohuaxiang No. 2 new rice.

We selected some representative nutrients that people are most worried about losing for testing, including protein, vitamin B1, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron, and zinc.

Rub or not

Let's first see if there is any difference in nutrient loss between rubbing and not rubbing——

The detected amounts of protein, vitamin B1, iron and zinc are all below the quantitative limit, so it is impossible to clearly judge the specific difference between rubbing and not rubbing.

However, judging from the content of phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and calcium, the loss is greater when rubbing than when not rubbing, and this is basically the case in the results of three washings.

So when washing rice, try not to rub it. Rice is really not that dirty!

How many times

Ok, I won’t rub it anymore. How many times should I wash it?

Continue to compare the data of the three times of washing rice without scrubbing:

It can be seen that the amount of protein loss each time is very small and is below the quantitative limit of detection.

The content of these three nutrients, vitamin B1, iron and zinc, in rice is relatively low. The detection values ​​in the rice washing water three times were all below the quantitative limit, so the amount of loss cannot be clearly known.

Phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and calcium are lost to varying degrees during the three rice washing processes. Basically, the loss is the greatest in the first rice washing process, and the total amount lost in the second and third rice washing processes is less than or equal to that in the first rice washing process.

Since you lose some nutrients every time you wash your hair, it’s better to wash it once and stop, saving time and effort! Of course, if you feel uncomfortable washing it once, then washing it two or three times is not a big problem.

After all, rice is already refined white rice, and its main components are carbohydrates, water and protein. The content of other nutrients is not high or has been lost during the processing process.

If you want to supplement other nutrients, you might as well take a look at these——

03

Can rice washing water only be thrown away?

For parents, it is a bit painful to throw it away directly, so we have also found some opportunities for you to re-employ the rice water -

Wash dishes and vegetables and flush the toilet✔️

Rice washing water is also water, so it can be used for some washing and rinsing work.

However, washing dishes, washing vegetables, and flushing toilets also require a lot of water, so washing rice once may not be enough...

Watering the flowers✔️

Rice water can indeed be used to water flowers, but the rice water needs to be fermented first!

Put the rice water in a plastic bottle and ferment it in a warm place for about a week. Some gas will be produced during the fermentation process, so do not tighten the bottle cap too much.

The taste of fermented rice water is a bit hard to describe, so try it with caution (don’t ask me how I know).

Using fresh rice water directly to water the flowers may have the opposite effect and cause problems such as soil compaction and root burn.

As for other wonderful uses of rice water: drinking it nourishes the stomach, washing your face makes your skin young, washing your hair makes your hair darker…

This time we have solved all the problems related to rice washing water. Please forward it to "A Loving Family" so that family members don't have to worry about it anymore!

Editor | Tang Tang

Design | Sour

References:

http://www.agri.cn/province/fujian/syjs/zzjs/202001/t20200115_7283822.htm

Source: Dad Review