Realized I was rinsing rice like a maniac for no reason

I used to rinse rice until the water ran totally clear because my mom always did that. Last month I made a big batch of jasmine rice and my water bill spiked, so I started paying attention to how long I was running the tap. Turns out I was rinsing for like 5 minutes straight, which is wild when you think about it. A friend who cooks at a Thai place near Seattle told me that over-rinsing strips the nutrients and makes the rice less sticky, you only need a quick swirl or two. Now I do a 10 second rinse and the texture is actually better, plus I save water every single day. Has anyone else been over-rinsing because of something your parents taught you without questioning it? What other kitchen habits did you blindly copy?

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nora5424d ago

Oh man, the rice thing got me too. I was rinsing until the water was basically bottled quality because that's what my grandma did, and I never once stopped to ask why. Then I read that most bagged rice in the US is already cleaned, so you're mostly just rinsing off the extra starch that makes it gluey and losing some of the vitamins they add back in. Now I do two quick swirls, dump the cloudy water, and call it done, takes maybe 15 seconds total. Other habit I blindly copied: keeping butter in the fridge door, which is the worst spot for it since the temp swings every time you open it.

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