While exploring the variety of rice in the market, you’re likely to come across plenty of terms and names that you’re not familiar with. For many people, such as the case with milled rice.
If you want a more seamless shopping experience in the grain aisle of your supermarket, you’ll want to know exactly what milled rice is. I looked into it, and here’s what I found!
What Is Milled Rice?
Milled rice is also known as polished rice or white rice. While other types of rice are milled as well, the process of milling white rice is more thorough because the husk, bran, and germ are all removed. What is left is the starchy portion of the rice, which is the reason milled rice is easier and faster to cook.
In case you’re curious to learn more about the process of milling rice and what differentiates milled rice from other types of rice, keep reading!
What Is Semi-Milled Rice?
Semi-milled rice refers to rice that has the entire husk removed, as well as part or whole of the outer pericarp and part of the germ.
Often in semi-milled rice, it is only the inner layers that remain wholly intact.
What Is Polished Milled Rice?
Polished rice is wholly milled rice, meaning the grains no longer have their husk, bran, and germ, that have been polished to improve their appearance.
Additionally, polished rice is usually glazed as well so that the grains will have a smooth and shiny surface.
While milled rice is sometimes considered polished rice, there is a difference between the process of milling the rice and polishing it.
What Is Half-Milled Rice?
Half milled rice is also called beige rice because people consider it part brown rice and part white rice. In Japan, half-milled rice is called haiga-mai and is popular for its health benefits.
As its name implies, half-milled rice is only partially milled so that the hard outer shell is removed but the layer that contains all the nutrients remains intact.
Consequently, half-milled rice is healthier than white rice because white rice is milled and polished to the point that white rice no longer has nutrients unless it is fortified.
What Is Total Milled Rice?
Total milled rice is not a type of rice. Instead, total milled rice is a technical term that refers to the composition of the rice after milling.
Most rice varieties end up with 69% starchy endosperm, 11% bran layers, and 20% rice husk after milling. Moreover, total milled rice contains head rice, whole grains, and brokens.
What Is Milled Head Rice?
Milled head rice is a term that refers to the physical characteristics of milled rice. Like total milled rice, head rice is not a rice variety.
Rather, head rice is what you call the length of the kernel that is equal to or greater than three-quarters of the whole kernel’s overall length.
Additionally, head rice includes kernels in which the broken sections consist of 75% to 85% of the entire kernel.
What Is The Difference Between Rice And Milled Rice?
Rice entails all rice grain varieties, including milled and unmilled rice. Meanwhile, milled rice refers only to rice that has undergone the milling process to remove its outer layers.
Additionally, milled rice is limited to white rice. While brown rice is also milled, brown rice only has the husk removed.
In contrast, white rice is milled to the point that only the endosperm remains.
Is Milled Rice Processed?
Milled rice is considered processed rice because, during the milling process, the grains are stripped of their nutritious outer layers. Consequently, milled rice became known as processed rice.
Which Is Better Well-Milled Rice Or Brown Rice?
Well-milled rice isn’t exactly a rice variant the way brown rice is. Rather, well-milled rice refers to the grade of the rice after milling.
Additionally, well-milled rice basically refers to the quality of white rice. When white rice is considered well-milled, 10% of the rice has already been removed.
Consequently, well-milled rice absorbs water faster and has a shorter cooking time than brown rice. Well-milled rice is also softer, fluffier, and more neutral in flavor.
Unlike well-milled rice, brown rice is a rice variant. Furthermore, brown rice is known for its nutritional value, dark color, firm texture, and nutty flavor.
How Is Rice Milled?
There are several steps to milling rice, and they typically involve large commercial meals.
First in the milling process is the pre-cleaning, which removes foreign materials from the grains like straw, soil, and weeds.
Next, is the dehulling or dehusking, followed by the paddy separation. It is in the paddy separation that brown rice is separated from unhusked paddy rice.
Afterward, the grains are polished and segregated so that the head rice is separated from the white rice.
In the final steps of processing the rice, the rice is mixed before undergoing mist polishing. Once that is done, the rice is ready to be weighed, bagged, and sold.
Is Brown Rice Milled?
Brown rice is milled, but only to the point where the hull is removed. As such, the grains can retain their nutritional layers and their brown color.
Why Is Rice Milled?
Rice is milled to remove the outer layers of the grains and make the rice more edible and safer to consume.
Does Rice Need To Be Milled?
Rice is milled so that the grains will be free of contaminants like soil and chemicals. Additionally, milling rice improves the condition of the grains and makes them easier to cook.
What Is Regular Milled White Rice?
Regular milled white rice is also called polished rice or white rice. Moreover, regular milled rice is the most common type of rice sold in the market.
With regular milled rice, you’ll find that the grains are white and smooth. Additionally, regular milled rice takes a shorter amount of time to cook than unmilled rice.
Have a look at our other articles to learn what mango sticky rice is, what mandi rice is, and what matta rice is.
Conclusion
Milled rice is a more technical term that refers to white rice or polished rice. This is because, out of all rice variants, white rice is the most thoroughly milled.
While brown rice is also milled, brown rice doesn’t undergo the entire process and is, therefore, able to maintain its outer layers, color, and nutritional value.
Meanwhile, milled rice yields rice that only has its starchy endosperm, making the rice soft and fluffy once cooked.