Here’s a little about why our Indrayani Rice stands out.
Our rice is hand-pound by artisans, veterans of the art. Hand-pounding rice is a tradition that is slowly being forgotten, as most shift towards the machine polished stuff. Pounding rice with the massive wooden pestles is not only an art but also great upper-body work-out. Ever seen an overweight farmer, by the way?
After being harvested from the field and threshed, our rice is hand-pound (just to remove the husk), cleaned by hand, and then packed. There is no machine involved anywhere at all. Why is there no machine involved? Well, here’s an extract from a wonderful book named Something To Chew On.
Grains of cereals, like rice and wheat consist of four parts:
The hull or the outermost layer which is inedible
The bran or the outer protective layer (contains mainly fiber)
The germ or the part of the grain that mostly sprouts (contains mainly vitamins)
The endosperm (contains mainly starch)
Of the three edible parts, what if you removed the bran and the germ? What are you left with? Yes, only the endosperm.
Now that’s exactly what is done most often to grains. This is called “polishing” the grain. The bran (and with it the fiber), and the germ (and with it the vitamins) are removed when we polish the grain. And what’s left is only the endosperm, the starchy part. With the fiber and vitamins gone, the polished grain has lost all of its nutrition. With less fiber in our diet, there is a lack of roughage in our bodies, which can even cause colon cancer
Illustration from Something To Chew On
Well, as the above extract rightly says, the polished looks that most people run after are not the whole picture. People-care being our prominent ethic, we want to ensure that our product is healthy and of the best quality. Comparing hand-pound rice and polished rice is like comparing hand-woven textiles and machine-spun ones, but only at the cost of one’s health.
The hand-pounding process preserves the nutrition, just removing the husk. This process also leads to some broken grain, which have a unique ability to easily absorb flavours. Also the, varied sized grains are good for your digestive system. Our Indrayani rice has a tan hue, unlike the white of polished rice. When cooked, they release a delicious aroma that is quite distinct. It is ready to cook, and can be pressure cooked as well as be cooked otherwise.
So there, from growing a rain-fed crop, to integrating a traditional art, to presenting a delicious and healthy product.
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