Jeepers Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I've read where brown rice doesn't keep as well as white rice because it has natural oil in it and can go rancid. I saw a Youtube (---sage) where a woman made rosemary brown rice, cooked it, then dehydrated it to use in 'meal-in-a-jar' storage. Her cooking liquid was fat free chicken stock. I'm thinking brown rice seasoned with rosemary add chicken. Also brown rice seasoned with turmeric a la Rice-A-Roni add chicken. Using dehydrated chicken from Honeyville. My question is do you think cooked brown rice then dehydrated, would have a shelf life as long as regular white rice? Or at least a few years? Quote Link to comment
The WE2's Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I've read the same thing about brown rice as well as whole wheat berries. Summation is...they do have oily hulls so? Personally, I don't try to keep either. The rice takes alot of fuel to cook until done and I don't think dehydrating it would be an option because I wouldn't be able to find it! LOL As for the wheat/flour ... to each their own. I keep stone ground (already for use) sealed in a portional sized vacume sealed bag and then sealed again in mylar. Quote Link to comment
Andrea Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Wheat berries keep quite well from me and I live in an area with triple digit summers. I have some commercially packed that is supposed to last for 25 years, I hope that it does. I've been sprouting my wheat berries (the ten year old berries sprouted fine), dehydrating them, and then grinding them into flour and making bread out of them. Supposedly, sprouting the wheat berries increases the nutritional content of the flour and makes it more easily digestible. There are "reports" of thousand year old wheat and kamut being found in Egyptian tombs that still sprouts. I can't find the original source, but here is one of many articles that mention this fact: http://relish.com/articles/using-wheat-berries/ Brown rice is difficult to store for me. If it's stored in the fridge, it will store much longer. I would imagine putting it in the freezer would extend it's shelf life dramatically. Personally, I'm the only one in my family who will eat it. My family prefers the white rice and can't stand the texture and taste of brown. It's not my favorite either, but it's supposedly better for us! What I do is store regular white rice (although that doesn't seem to hold up well either in our hot climate) and I store instant brown rice. The instant brown rice has a much longer shelf life and there is no nutritional difference between the regular brown rice and the instant. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment
Violet Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Your best bet is putting in mylar with an O2absorber. Quote Link to comment
Jeepers Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 (edited) Here is the video of her doing it. I wouldn't want too much of it. Maybe a half gallon jar stored away for the meals-in-a-jar stuff. I THINK by precooking it and then dehydrating it, it would become 'instant' type rice and could be rehydrated without much cooking at all. Edited to add: It looks like a long video but most of it is of her garden so I skipped ahead a lot. Edited January 12, 2013 by Jeepers Quote Link to comment
The WE2's Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Wheat berries keep quite well from me and I live in an area with triple digit summers. I have some commercially packed that is supposed to last for 25 years, I hope that it does. I've been sprouting my wheat berries (the ten year old berries sprouted fine), dehydrating them, and then grinding them into flour and making bread out of them. Supposedly, sprouting the wheat berries increases the nutritional content of the flour and makes it more easily digestible. There are "reports" of thousand year old wheat and kamut being found in Egyptian tombs that still sprouts. I can't find the original source, but here is one of many articles that mention this fact: http://relish.com/articles/using-wheat-berries/ Brown rice is difficult to store for me. If it's stored in the fridge, it will store much longer. I would imagine putting it in the freezer would extend it's shelf life dramatically. Personally, I'm the only one in my family who will eat it. My family prefers the white rice and can't stand the texture and taste of brown. It's not my favorite either, but it's supposedly better for us! What I do is store regular white rice (although that doesn't seem to hold up well either in our hot climate) and I store instant brown rice. The instant brown rice has a much longer shelf life and there is no nutritional difference between the regular brown rice and the instant. Hope this helps! Comment from Philbe...I have a couple of boxes of instant brown rice, stored in sealed mylar bags. Also keep instant white. Perhaps not as nutritional, but in an emergency situation neither take much fuel to cook, and I'm planning to use them in some meals in a bag/mylar. Quote Link to comment
Violet Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I also have some safety concerns about cooking the rice and drying it. Especially in chicken broth. We don't have any safe methods for doing this. Quote Link to comment
The WE2's Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Same here Violet, I wouldn't try cooking it and then dehydrating it. Besides, as I mentioned before (LOL) by the time it got dried again it would be smaller? Quote Link to comment
Ambergris Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 This is why I've been trying to convert my family to converted rice, which has a better nutritional profile but stores longer than brown. I have had good luck solar-cooking rice. Quote Link to comment
Mt_Rider Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Philbe, I've never seen any data that would suggest that whole wheat berries are anything but the epitome of storage grains, along with white rice and oats. All data gives them a 30 year ticket when stored properly in buckets, mylar for total air barrier and O2 absorbers. Brown rice has always been problematic in warmer regions tho. I can keep it nicely in my basement area which is barely keeping above freezing right now but keeps very cool in summers too. Grinding any grain/legume will open the shell and expose more to the degrading effects of O2. Putting them in mylar with O2 absorbers will certainly help tho. General rule is that for optimal nutritional storage time, don't 'process' anything. But for other issues like ease of cooking, water requirements, etc...other methods might be an improvement at the cost of storage times somewhat. Do we need 30 year storage times? I stored some grains 15 yrs ago. Was a time of cheaper prices and our personal economy was in better shape. I'm using and rotating but certainly not yearly. Depends on your objectives and goals. MtRider Quote Link to comment
Jeepers Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 I didn't even know they made instant brown rice. I've never looked for it because: 1. I don't eat it 2. I know the shelf life for brown rice is shorter Does instant brown rice have a longer shelf life? After thinking about it, she could make plain brown rice, dehydrate it then add rosemary and chicken bullion to the meal-in-a-jar. Or buy instant brown rice and add the spices to the jar. I understand why she would want to use her own broth and stuff and cook the flavors in though. Quote Link to comment
Canned Nerd Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I've had fairly good success with vacuum sealing my brown rice, some of which are several years old now. I also dehydrate cooked rice, especially brown rice, since its cheaper than the commercial stuff and very handy for many recipes. I store this in jars since it is hard and sharp and capable of puncturing bags. I would never consider dehydrating rice cooked in stock/broth since it would not seem safe. Much easier to add flavoring when its being re-hydrated. Quote Link to comment
Jeepers Posted January 14, 2013 Author Share Posted January 14, 2013 That's what I'm going to do. Cook some brown rice, dehydrate it and then add the spices. I have some extra 1/2 gallon canning jars I'll vacuum seal it in. Thanks all for talking me down! Quote Link to comment
PoorMusician Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Surely I could go ahead and add the rosemary or other spices to the cooking water, right? The broth would be the problem, not the spices. Would vegetable broth be safer? I've never stored grains before, but it's on this years list to do. Quote Link to comment
Canned Nerd Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Just emptied 5 trays of dehydrated brown rice and more to be done in the coming days of cold weather. The dehydrator is a nice way to warm the kitchen. I'm storing the rice in 2 quart glass jars that used to hold Vlasic pickles (my candy vice) but first the rice goes into a large dish where the rice is lightly pounded -- like a mortar and pestle -- to separate the rice before storing. Too much of a hassle to try to separate during the drying process. I'm also dehydrating 'nests' of cooked spaghetti and also other bags/boxes of pastas that are getting old in my pantry. I love having the dehydrated cooked noodles that can be added to a meal without lots of pre-planning, requiring only a 1:1 addition of hot water to hydrate. I'm curious though about the cooking water for the pasta.....has anyone used it more than one time? Quote Link to comment
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