Red indeed!
Guest Bloggers, Rice November 6th, 2005
A preview of what is to come…
The picture on the left is of regular lowland irrigated palé which will become abias and then nasi.
In English this time: Palé is Kapampangan for standing rice stalks and the unhusked rice grains. Milling would turn it into abias and when cooked is called nasi. In Tagalog, those terms would be palay, bigas and kanin respectively.
On the right is the rainfed lacatan malutu or red-husked glutinous rice used for duman. I took the palé picture on a cool afternoon sometime in the summer (April-May) while the lacatan was photographed at mid-morning Sunday, 30 October, last week but both sheafs of grain are approximately of the same age, based on how they bow to the sun.
November 6th, 2005 at 1:26 pm
Hi there!
In America, there is finally a health conscious movement towards the marketing and availability of healthier food. Many Americans struggle with weight and new societal lifestyle changes are in demand. White rice has been a standard and symbol in Asian society. But the “bleaching” of rice strips the rice of its valuable fiber and vitamins/nutirients. Our family recently went to the Asian food store to buy brown rice. The soluble fiber resonates as food valued like in the popular South Beach Diet -food with a good glycemic index/blood sugar rating; especially important for diabetics.
Like the whole grains bread craze now in America today, could there be a brown rice trend seen in our generation?
November 7th, 2005 at 12:18 am
hi karen, looking forward to learning more about the lacatan malutu — would you happen to know the scientific name for it? i’m curious to find out if it’s grown/sold anywhere else, as i’ve seen red rice from Africa and Bhutan, and I think there may be some grown in Japan as well.
November 13th, 2005 at 7:34 pm
Well, possibly Luto. Brown rice and other less common varieties have always been available, especially in the countryside. If you notice my current header, the plate contains brown unpolished rice.
Stef, I’m actually trying to find its scientific name. I am not sure how similar lacatan malutu is to other red rice varieties since it turns white as soon as it’s fully ripened. The white though is different from the common glutinous rice sold as it’s much more opaque, more milky.