Rice plant life

Rice, like wheat, is an annual cyclegrass, this means that it is sowed in springtime and it ripens, according to the different varieties, between September and October. The plant reaches a 80-150 cm height and it takes 5 months, on average, to ripen. In some hot and wet countries, it is possible to have more than one harvest a year. But, have you ever wonder how a rice plant springs up? Rice plant springs up from the seed, also called grain or caryopsis, which is the fruit of this plant variety. Rice seed is an embryo and contains all the minerals, plant needs, during the first growing phase. As soon as it is sowed, seed soaks, from the soil, an amount of water, just to "explode". Then roots spring up and stretch downward and fasten the plant to the soil. At the same time, stem stretches upward. This phase is called germination and it is just at this moment, that chlorophyllose photosyntesis process starts. Also leaves will slowly spring up. At this stage, plant starts growing and developing, and it also starts soaking, from the soil, the other mineral salts it needs to grow in size. In summer, a florescence, also called spike, springs up from the plant. It contains 100-150 small spikes, which have a blossom at the top. Blossom unfolds about 90 days after seed's germination. Then, each blossom is turned into a seed.

HOW IS SEED MADE UP?

What is seed made up of? Main parts are:

Chaff : a seed, just harvested, is covered with a yellowish or brownish color multi-layers cod, called chaff. It forms 20% of the whole wheight. Husk: it is a layer, under the chaff, rich in nutritive elements and proteins. Endosperm : it is a layer, also called albumen, rich in vitamins and starch. Embryo ( or germ ): Each grain has an embryo. It will start a new rice plant, so it is a very important part of the grain.

RICE MANUFACTURE
Rice just harvested is called rough rice, because it is covered by a rough and tough cod, the chaff. Chaff forms 20% of grain weight and it must be eliminated, to make rice eatable. Formerly, rice was cleaned by hand, actually they pounded rough rice in a mortar , with a wood stick, in order to eliminate chaff. Since 1600, this method was mechanized and "huskeries", factories where they applied this method, were built. Nowadays, huskeries have more advanced systems but, rice manufacture principle is always the same. Let look to the rice manufacture phases. Firstly, they clean harvested rice of impurities. How? Grass blades and soil are intaken, stones are eliminated and irony materials are extracted through powerful magnets. Then, each grain is husked. They put rough rice in a machinery, called huller, formed by two special rollers that husk rice. This method is called hulling. They obtain an unrefined rice, called brown rice. Brown rice is an healthy food and is more nourishing than white rice, for this reason it is starting enjoying, again, popularity among consumers. Last manufacture phase is the bleaching. They scrub brown rice with two stones, in order to eliminate husk, the peel rich in proteins, vitamins and mineral salts.

From rice manufacture you can obtain many products: Rice starch has a double use. If you buy the powder and you dissolve it in water, it has a refreshening power, excellent for skin inflammation; combined with other materials, it is used, in the factories, to make glues and paints. Rice flour is particularly fit for gluten intolerance ( gluten is contained in wheat, in rye and in barley ). With rice flour you can make bread, soups, 'gnocchi', but also fresh dough and sweets. 'Farinaccio' is rice flour waste, used as animals feed. Rice milk comes from unrefined rice manufacture. It is a very good sweet drink, with which you can make good biscuits, cakes and delicious creams. Rice oil is made up with chaff and husk wastes and it is used to cook. Rice straw Dried rice plant, united to chaff , is used both to make fuel and animal litters. In some Asian countries, it is also used to make hats and small shoes. From rice straw, you can also obtain rice paper, it is a high quality paper, particularly fine but, also very resistant. Rice pastry , solely prepared with rice flour, is a free gluten pastry and it can also be eaten by coeliac people ( people allergic to gluten ). Rice powder can be used as cosmetic instead of face powder, because it is gentler and more refreshing.

THE STORY OF THE RICE GRAIN

It is not easy to fix, exactly, the origins of rice. They think that, first rice varieties appeared, more than twelve thousand years ago, along southern Himalayan slopes ( an asian mountain range, between Nepal and India). Some archeological finds proved that, in the VI millennuim b. C., in China, both wild and farmed rice, already, existed. Some indian texts, dated 1300 b. C., describe, in detail, the transplant phases and other ones, dated 1000 b. C, contain a catalogue of the different plant species!