Lately I have seen some discussions on the long-term storage of brown rice. Some people and websites have put forth antidotal evidence that it can be stored for as much as 10 years or so.
While I agree completely with the idea that brown rice is superior in nutrition to white rice, the research that I have done points to a much shorter shelf life. For many years the LDS (Mormon) Church as advised against the long term storage of brown rice, based on research conducted by Brigham Young University.
The University of Nebraska, at Lincoln published the following statement on the storage of brown rice. “Because of the oil in its bran layer, brown rice has a shorter shelf life than white rice and maintains its quality for about six months. For longer storage, refrigerate or freeze brown rice”.
The USA Rice federation has the following statement on their website, “The bran layer contains a small amount of oil, and so brown rice has a shorter shelf-life than white rice. Store uncooked brown rice at room temperature up to 6 months, or refrigerate or freeze for longer shelf life”.
I have been unable to find any information that validates the long-term storage of brown rice. I do not include brown rice in my storage, because I want foods that I can trust to be good when I have to open them in an emergency. This is a situation in which you can’t afford to take chances.
The following is a research study performed by BYU (Brigham Young University) on regular and parboiled rice. Quality of regular and parboiled rice in long-term storage.
This shows that both regular white rice and parboiled rice can be stored for many years. Now as a result of this study you have a better option than white rice, store parboiled rice.
Because of the method by which it is processed, parboiled rice is a better source of fiber, calcium, potassium and vitamin B-6 than regular white rice. It is rich in niacin, providing 4 milligrams, or 23 percent of your recommended daily requirement in 1 cup of cooked rice. You’ll also get 19 percent of your daily requirement of vitamin B-6. This about double what you would get from non-enriched white rice. It also has double the fiber.
According to Harvard Health Publications, it has a low glycemic score of 38, compared to white rice which has a score of 89. This means that the carbohydrates in parboiled rice will not cause a large spike in blood sugar.
I strongly suggest that you avoid the long-term storage of brown rice and substitute parboiled rice.
Howard
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