Converted Rice

On the Learn-Something-New-Every-Day front:

I really believe in whole foods. I don't buy instant rice; I buy brown whole-grain rice. I see bags of Uncle Ben's Converted Rice on the shelf. I never knew what it was. Converted? Converted from what? To what? Sounds pretty processed to me.

But after reading Richard Blunt recently on beans & rice, I learned what converted rice is. "Converted rice" is parboiled rice, rice that is boiled a bit, but not cooked all the way. The parboiling helps to drive some of the nutrients into the rice grains. Then the rice can be polished (that is, have the outsides removed) so that it has the long-lasting, never-spoiling qualities of refined white rice. But with a lot more nutrients!

There's something valuable there for those of us who like to stock up on shelf-stable foods in case of emergencies.