I'm an old dog trying to learn some new tricks. I've never done much
cooking, but am trying to learn, and recently decided to try to learn
to cook "real" rice. After eating some wonderful Thai brown rice at a
local restaurant, I thought I would really like to add it to our
regular menu.

After some research, we decided to buy the Zojirushi 10-cup Neuro
Fuzzy Micom Rice Cooker. I thought this was supposed to be easy, but
it seems that everything just got a whole lot more complicated! I now
have to choose among Sweet, Semibrown, and Brown. How do I know which
to choose?

We recently bought an assortment of brown rices. In case any of this
means anything to anyone, we have a bag of Lundberg Whole Grain Brown
Rice (Whole grain Wehani rice), a bag of Trader Joe's Thai "Brown
Jasmine Rice", and a bag of Lund "Organic Sweet Rice Brown," which has
rice grains that are only about ½ the length of rice grains I've
normally seen. Additionally, I've seen some rice on the internet -
Cock Brand Jasmine Brown Rice -- that looked interesting.

So now I'm totally uncertain as to whether any of these are actually
"brown rice" or "semibrown rice", or in the one case, "sweet rice",
for the purposes of our new rice cooker. Plus, the directions that
came with the cooker mention using more water for brown rice, but
don't give any indication of how much more.

One last question, while I've got your attention. The various
packages say to add salt (and butter if you choose) when you cook the
rice. Is this also appropriate when using the Zojirushi?

Thanks for your help.

Jerry

Jerry > wrote in news:1180108087.660888.137380
@h2g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:

> So now I'm totally uncertain as to whether any of these are actually
> "brown rice" or "semibrown rice",

So look up a definition for brown rice and it will basically tell you it
is rice that hasn't been processed as much... leaving on instead of
polishing off the outer hull of the rice or whatever it is called.

As to which you should use. It's your tastebuds try them and select one
or more you like better. As if I need to tell you this.

Myself I prefer white or polished rices more than I like the taste of
brown rices.

Certain rices fit certain meals better than others...for example a
shorter grain rice is better for a breakfast porridge than a longer grain
rice, same applies to rice pudding and rissottoes. Other rice varities
blend better with certain spices but that's a personal taste issue and if
I said jasmine rice fitted better with garlic or cumin others would
insist that basmati was a better fit.

My rice cooker is a cheapo Black and Decker...works fine and is probably
1/4 the price you paid.

--

The house of the burning beet-Alan

It'll be a sunny day in August, when the Moon will shine that night-
Elbonian Folklore