The Rice Grain
What is rice? Rice is the edible seed of a plant which is a member of the grass family. It is grown in many countries throughout the world and is the staple diet for over half the world's population.
Rice is a cereal and related to other cereal grass plants such as wheat, oats and barley.
Rice is an annual plant. This means it completes its entire life cycle within a year, from planting to harvesting. It is also semi-aquatic, which means that it can grow partly on land, and partly submerged in water. Most cultivated rice comes from either the Oryza sativa, O. glaberrima, or O. rufipogon species.
Rices are generally divided into two types of species: indica (adapted to tropical climates like South-East Asia) and japonica –(adapted to more temperate climates like in Australia). The Australian rice industry produces mostly japonica types of rice, although some indica characteristics have been introduced through a rice-breeding program.
Rice plants start their life as tiny rice grains sown in irrigated fields, and grow to become green, grassy plants about 60-100 cm tall. Each plant contains many heads full of tiny rice grains that turn golden when the rice plant is ready to harvest.
What is in a Grain of Rice?
The rice grain is made of three main layers - the hull or husk, the bran and germ – and the inside kernel, or endosperm.
The Hull
The rice hull or husk is a hard, protective outer layer that people cannot eat. The hull is removed when the grain is milled.
Rice Bran
Underneath the hull is the bran and germ layer, which is a thin layer of skin. This layer gives brown rice its colour. White rice is just brown rice with the bran and germ layer removed.
Endosperm
The endosperm is the inside of the rice grain, which is hard and white and contains lots of starch.
Where Did Rice Come From?
Rice is an introduced species, which means it is not originally from Australia. The grain originated thousands of years ago in Asia, in a broad arc stretching from eastern India through to Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Laos, northern Vietnam and southern China.
The domestication of rice is considered one of the most important developments in human history. Rice is one of the oldest harvested crops known to man. Grains of rice discovered at an excavation in South Korea in 2003 are said to be the earliest known domesticated rice: carbon dating showed the grains to be around 15,000 years old – 3,000 years earlier than the previously accepted date for the origin of rice cultivation in China around 12,000 years ago.
The first written account of rice is found in a record on rice planting authorised by a Chinese emperor in 2800 BC. From China across to ancient Greece, from Persia to Africa, rice migrated across the continents and around the world.