white rice: is it a "whole grain"?

[LGBurns]

The discussion on the low carb thread brought up a question for me that I have been pondering for a while: is white rice a whole grain? I always thought it was but upon reading some of the posts on that thread I'm confused now. Anyone out there that can enlighten me? Thanks!

[emilycat]

Actually, white rice isn't a whole grain -- it's refined, because the hull and germ layers have been removed, thus you lose all of the fiber benefits of brown rice. Brown rice is nuttier tasting, takes about twice as long to cook, and is much more nutritious.

[sneezles]

This is what the Food Companion says:

White rice: Any rice that has been milled to remove its brown hull and bran.

So I would say that no white rice is not a whole grain since it has had parts removed.

[LGBurns]

Thanks! I actually prefer the taste of brown rice but unfortunately have a bad habit of forgetting about cooking my rice until everything else is almost done so I have a tendency to throw on the white rice because it's faster. I'll just have to try to be better about remembering.

[LGBurns]

Just thought of another question -- what about rices like Jasmine Rice? Can you get brown Jasmine Rice (I've never seen it)? Can you get brown Arborio Rice?

[emilycat]

You know, I would love brown jasmine rice, but I've never seen it before... I'm sure it must exist (don't you think?) but I've never seen it. As for Arborio, I just use short-grained brown rice or unhulled barley, both of which release starches in the same sort of way that Arborio does -- although if I feel as though I've gotten enough fiber for the day, sometimes I'll just use Arborio anyway http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[jms0310]

I have seen brown Arborio rice (I've never tried it though-I also use the short grained brown rice) but I don't think I have ever come across brown Jasmine rice!
Jessica

[ReneeV]

Hi All,
Brown basmati exists because I have some in my cabinet right now. I don't know about jasmine. I bought my brown basmati at Fresh Fields/Whole Foods mart in the bulk area.

It's delicious!

Renée