Gluten in Enriched Rice

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:29 pm

A local Mexican grocer is selling 20 lbs. of enriched white rice for $6.99, quite a bargain for rice these days.

I use a fair amount of white rice flour in cooking and baking and am considering purchasing some to grind rice flour in my grain mill. I was concerned about the possibility of gluten being used in the enriched rice. I always rinse my white rice, but it's difficult to thoroughly dry washed grain for grinding.

I looked up the brand of rice and found this link:

http://www.goya.com/english/nutrition/l ... luten.html

The rice I'm interested in is Canilla, so it's apparently gluten-free. Note that rice and corn flour can be cross-contaminated with gluten.

Here's another site listing other brands (note that it hasn't been updated in 2 years):
http://gfkitchen.server101.com/rice.htm

Riceland rice: http://www.riceland.com/consumers/faqs/concerns.asp Notice that the extra long grain rice is gluten-free, but not corn-free, which probably means they use cornstarch to coat the rice with the vitamins.

Brown rice is usually not enriched. Some bags even state "No Talc" on the packaging.

Gloria

mbeezie · Post by **mbeezie** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 5:55 am

Hi Gloria,

I learned about this at camp. Apparently white rice is soaked in barley water during the enrichment process - it creates a coating to keep the added nutrients on the rice. I suppose rinsing will help some but I don't think it removes it all. If you eat rice out in a restaurant you should ask if it's enriched and what brand.

Mary Beth

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:22 am

Wow, DANGER, Will Robinson.........

Thanks, Gloria and MB. It's always something.

mbeezie · Post by **mbeezie** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 3:57 pm

I went to a celiac support meeting today - ugh - big mistake, but that's another story. I asked about what Gloria said about rice and what I heard at camp. The woman in charge of the meeting said that information was not true. But I am almost certain the woman who said this at camp said she called the rice company because every time she ate their rice she got sick. I guess like with all things that cause a probolem, call the manufacturer if you want to know for sure.

Mary Beth