How To Properly Prepare Rice

How To Properly Prepare Rice. Fermenting rice is an important step to remove the phytic acid and make this grain more digestible.

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If you have been around these parts for long, you already know my stance on grains.

They must be fermented.

Fermented, fermented, fermented!

This is because our digestive tracts were not designed to break down grains properly.

Traditional cultures and peoples from around the world took great care to ferment their grains before consuming them, and even then they never ate grains in large quantities.

Grains contain phytic acid which binds to key minerals, especially calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc and prevents their absorption in our guts. Soaking, fermenting, or sprouting the grain before cooking or baking will neutralize the phytic acid, and in turn, releases these nutrients for easy absorption.

Phytic acid is neutralized in as little as 7 hours of soaking in water with small amounts of an acidic medium.

This process allows enzymes, probiotics and other beneficial organisms to not only neutralize the phytic acid, but also to break down complex starches, irritating tannins and the proteins that are hard to digest. This can even lessen some people’s sensitivity or allergic reactions to particular grains. But even if you aren’t allergic to a certain grain, everyone will benefit from the removal of those gut-irritating anti-nutrients.

How To Properly Prepare Rice

• 2 cups rice (any type you use, we use white basmati rice)
• 4 cups of filtered water
• 4 tbsp yogurt, buttermilk, lemon juice, whey or apple cider vinegar

Combine your three ingredients in a pot. I typically always use the apple cider vinegar, but any of the options are just fine.

Leave covered on the counter (not in the refrigerator) for a minimum of 7 hours. Usually I let mine go for 24 hours to get it really good and fermented.

Once you’ve let it sit as long as you wanted to, add some salt and grassfed butter. Set the pot on the stove and bring to a boil. There is no need to strain the water off and add fresh water, I get asked this all the time, you can just boil it in the water it was fermented in. Skim off any foam that forms during the process of bringing it to a boil.

Reduce heat once it’s hit the boiling point and allow it to cook on low until it’s done.

See? Insanely easy.

It just requires a little planning ahead.

Which, I’ll be honest…isn’t my strong suite.

But I’m really working on getting better about it, because this is important to me. To feed my family only the most nutritious foods, including fermented grains when we decide to have some.

We can do hard things, we can surely remember to start some rice soaking the day before we need it.

I believe in us.

And blessings!

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