But with so many varieties, what should you store...?
Many people ask me if they should store brown rice. Brown Rice is definitely superior to white rice in regards to health benefits, but its shelf life pales in comparison. Brown Rice can only store up to a year because the outer shell of the hull contains oil, which can become rancid. If your family prefers brown rice, store it in the freezer to extend the shelf life.
Long Grain White Rice will store the longest...but I also store Medium Grain to have a little variety.
What is the best way to store Rice?
As a general rule, if you remove the oxygen from the stored food, the shelf life will be improved considerably. For that reason I store my rice in two ways. I dry pack half of my rice, so I can safely assume it will be useful to me for a long time. Each #10 can is packed with an oxygen absorber to remove all of the oxygen..."Oxygen absorbers perform their action through a chemical reaction process. They contain iron powder and salt which reacts with the oxygen in the air causing the iron powder to rust. When all the iron powder has oxidized, the oxygen absorbers are "loaded" and the absorbing action stops. Remove the oxygen from an active absorber and the chemical reaction stops (such as resealing in an air tight bag). Put them back in the air and the reaction starts again until the iron is gone. " By having some of my rice stored in small cans, I am able to leave them in an oxygen free environment for a longer period because I am only accessing a limited amount at a time.
I also store rice in 6-gallon buckets. This works well for me because 
I like to store my rice in smaller plastic containers in my kitchen. To make this process easy, one of my buckets has a Gamma Seal lid on it which can be opened and closed easily when I need to access the contents. One thing to remember...once a bucket/can is opened, the oxygen absorber is no longer effective so it is important to go through the rice within a 3-5 year time frame. With the ease of using rice in everyday cooking, I have yet to have a problem with rotation.
4 comments:
I have a question. How do you store oxygen packets? They are always sold in 100 count packages, so how do you keep the unused portion from going bad?
We put some in a ziploc bag once, and the bag blew up like a balloon, weird. I am not sure if they are any good anymore.
Hey Coop...I store my unused oxygen packets in a glass bottle with a tight fitting lid. You know, the kind you use for canning. The absence of air will stop the packets from activating. Once the packets have been exposed to air, they are only good for about 15 minutes, so make sure and get those unused ones in a bottle or other airtight container quickly. They also sell airtight clips, like they use at the cannery, that are just clipped on the bag the packets came in. I wonder if the cannery sells them. Either way will work great! I would have loved to see your Ziploc Bag!
So does medium grain rice have a much shorter shelf life? Or is it just a little shorter than long grain?
Marianne, Medium Grain White Rice does have a shorter shelf life. But in my experience it is not that much shorter. I stored my long and medium grain rice at the same time (in buckets) about 4 years ago and both are still going strong.
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