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Comment by z2h-a6n | Hacker News Reader

> the texture of the rice will come out quite wrong.

Out of curiosity, in what sense can the texture be wrong? I never wash my rice, and I like the texture.

Washing rice is one of those hygienic practices that evolved into a social more and was incorporated into regional cuisine thereafter. If you're living in a developed country with effective food safety regulations, you don't need to wash your rice.

Which doesn't mean that it's a bad idea to wash your rice. But it's certainly not inherently wrong to not wash rice. For certain cuisines you're actually supposed to not wash the rice, like when making risotto or paella.

So rice. Out of the plant, rice is not that white grain we're used to see. It has a protective layer (called bran). It has all kind of nice nutrient in it, but also contains quite a lot of oil and can go rancid. So for conservation purpose, it's usually removed. The way it's removed is by grinding it until we get to that white layer we all know.

Now this white layer is mostly starch. And by grinding the grain up to this white layer, you necessarily make a lot of microscopic starch powder (I'm simplifying).

When you rinse the rice, you remove this microscopic powder. So when cooking, it cannot gelatinize and provide that creamy (... or goopy, depending on your point of view) texture.

Note that this preference depends on the cuisine, cultivar and even recipe. As other mentioned, risotto is supposed to be creamy, banh chung is held together by magic, pilaf have distinct grains, etc...

You explained that very clearly, and I am grateful for that.

There's nothing wrong with liking it that way, it's just more porridge-like because of the starch if you don't wash it and some people prefer individual rice grains.

Individual rice grains remind me of ant larvae.

Unwashed rice is normally gummier or more starchy

Try it for once. You'll notice the difference

Rice contains a lot of arsenic. Washing it can remove some of it. This article also recommends pouring off some water during cooking as well.

https://health.osu.edu/wellness/exercise-and-nutrition/how-t...

This doesn't answer the texture question.

Your somewhat inflammatory "rice contains a lot of arsenic" isn't supported by your source, which has the much more equivocal "rice may have arsenic in it — potentially high levels".

I doubt they meant it as being inflammatory. It's just a fact, if you don't read it as being perfectly literal. I parboil my rice and pour off the water before cooking it to try and avoid arsenic exposure (which is more or less a washing procedure). This also gives it a nice fluffy texture, but if asked why I do this, I would say something similar to GP.

> It's just a fact, if you don't read it as being perfectly literal

What other kind of fact is there?

"Rice has a lot of arsenic" reads the same as "rice may have arsenic in it — potentially high levels" if you don't take it as literally applying to all rice in all circumstances.

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