Reducing Inorganic Arsenic in Rice

Followup on my rice post from the other day.

Can't copy link, but do a search for "rice exhaustive rinsing" and pick the link from www.lundberg.com (PDF).

Exhaustive rinsing is where you rinse the rice 5-6 times, until the water runs clear (a traditional Indian method). Removes 28% of arsenic, compared to raw rice.

Combine that with cooking rice using a large water to rice ratio of 6:1 reduces arsenic by 58% compared to raw rice. The more common ratio of 2.5:1 does nothing to reduce levels.

Steaming the rice reduced levels but results were inconsistent in the study.

The arsenic is considered to be most likely a result of soil conditions and how the rice is grown. Levels are very high in rice from south central U.S., but are better in California.

Recommendations from one of the articles I posted previously were Basmati rice from India and Pakistan, Jasmine rice from Thailand, and also rice from Egypt and the Himalayas.

Seed Companies

Back in 2005, Monsanto bought Semini's, a seed company that controls 40% of vegetable seeds in the U.S. and 20% in the World. (Monsanto bought Burpee's a while back, so don't buy from them either).

Some folks think there's no point in avoiding a company that's been bought by Monsanto, because where else will we get seeds from? Well, if Semini's controls 40% of vegetable seeds in the U.S., that means 60% is still free of their control. I vote for buying from the other guys, who are all smaller businesses and could use our help. We need MORE DIVERSITY, be it in seeds, people, or ideas, because in an uncertain world you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket.

Also, learning to save seed is good, both because it saves money and because those seeds will have experienced your garden's soil and conditions and be better prepared for the next year. Avoid hybrids if possible, as they don't breed true.

http://www.seedalliance.org/Seed_News/SeminisMonsanto/

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Here's a few seed companies that ARE NOT OWNED BY MONSANTO:

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/index.htm
http://www.seedsofchange.com/
http://www.territorialseed.com/
http://www.superseeds.com/
http://noursefarms.com/
http://www.highmowingseeds.com
http://rareseeds.com/
http://www.americanmeadows.com
http://www.hartseed.com/

http://www.richters.com/ (herbs)

And if you're interested in actively helping with saving seed, there's
http://www.seedsavers.org

[Partial credit for the above list goes to Sharon Astyk, who compiled a list awhile back. I've ordered from or bought at the store, seeds from more than half of the above companies).

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Also check your local hardware store and see what companies they have -- check for country of origin, make a list of the company names and check them out. Ashfield Hardware, our little local store, carries some small local suppliers, heritage seeds, etc. Neighbors (our town's convenience store and gas station) carries Hart's seeds. The farmer co-ops are another good place to go -- I know that Greenfield Farmer Co-op carries High Mowing's seeds, for instance.

I prefer to order from growers in my region, as I figure their seed will probably do better here than seed from a significantly different growing region. I make exceptions if I can't find specific plant seeds/bulbs/rhizomes closer to home. An example would be when I ordered hops rhizomes a few years ago from the Northwest Pacific because it was the only area that had them in the entire U.S. That might be changing.... there's a hops movement up in Vermont now.

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Good luck, have fun, help your local growers, stay strong!