Is it better to wash rice or not to wash rice? It's a simple thing that happens every day, but many people don't know it

In Vietnamese cuisine, rice is very important and every time we cook, we often wash the rice, but many people do not know what that means and whether it causes loss of nutrition.

In Vietnamese cuisine, rice cooked from white rice has an important position and is a popular traditional dish. Even for many people, a lack of rice would be unbearable. Rice also has a great impact on the health of Vietnamese people.

When cooking rice, we mostly wash the rice. Many people say that the cleaner the rice is, the more delicious it will be, but there are also opinions that say washing rice too thoroughly will lose its nutrition. So what is good? 

The Conversation (Australia) site published research showing that washing rice has many benefits. Many people believe that washing rice before cooking can reduce the starch content of the rice, but research confirms that this is not true. Many people see thick rice water and think that a lot of nutrients have been lost, but in fact the milky white color of rice water is due to free starch formed during the rice milling process to separate the husk. That starch is called amylose, which sticks to the surface of rice grains.

Washing rice is considered necessary before cooking rice, but you need to know how to wash it properly

A study by Beijing University of Business and Technology (China) was also conducted to compare the benefits of washing rice after cooking between three types of rice: sticky rice, medium-grain white rice and fragrant rice.

The researchers divided the rice into groups to study: unwashed, washed 3 times and washed 10 times. The result is that whether you wash it or not, it doesn't affect the stickiness or aromatic properties of the rice after it's cooked. The stickiness of rice does not depend on amylose but on another form of starch called amylopectin - this type is formed during cooking. 

Therefore, according to experts, before cooking rice you should wash the rice thoroughly to help remove dirt, husks, insects and impurities. This is especially important when the rice milling and handling process in some places is not careful, it can be dusty, contaminated with anti-mold chemicals.... Rinsing rice thoroughly helps you remove it better. toxic chemicals contaminated in rice.

There may also be microplastics in rice, so washing rice more thoroughly will help clean these microplastics. These microplastics are formed due to the process of storing rice in plastic packaging, and all plastic packaging has microplastics. Washing rice can help reduce up to 40% of microplastic particles in rice.

However, the act of washing rice does not clean away bacteria, so you need to pay attention. In addition, when storing rice, you should prioritize clean paper and plastic packaging to avoid storing rice for a long time.

You should also pay attention to washing rice to ensure it is clean and correct. Many people use the inside of the rice cooker to wash rice, but that is not correct because it both damages the pot and does not clean the rice.

To clean the rice during the process, you should put the rice in a colander and rub it with your hands. This will help remove the grains, rice husks, rice weevils, broken rice, and dirt better, so it will be cleaner than washing with a pot. Furthermore, washing rice in a pot also quickly damages the non-stick coating of the rice cooker.