Tuesday's Tip- How To Keep Pests Out Of Rice

My Tuesday’s tip section is getting very good response from my readers. I received some very good comments on how to cook rice perfectly, thus today I thought of catering to another problem- Rice Pests.

I know it is not rare to find rice bugs or pests inside the rice packet. Sometimes the bugs are already inside the new packet as the bugs lay eggs in the crops, and when these are harvested, the eggs end up in the package. Eggs are so tiny that they are not visible to the naked eye, only when the eggs hatches you can see the pests. There is also a possibility of bugs sneaking into the package after you open it and store it at home.

There are some tricks that you can try and stop pests invading your rice grains.

Methods to Keep Pests Out Of Rice:

Freeze the rice:  Yes! This may sound stupid but it helps. As and when, you bring the new packet of rice; simply freeze the bag in the freezer for 1 week. Doing so stops the eggs from hatching. In fact if you have room in the freezer consider storing the rice in there, this will absolutely keep pests away from rice. Show sun:  One of the main reasons of bugs to multiply is the moisture. When you find insects in the rice grains; spread the rice on newspaper and keep it under the sunlight. Sunlight heats up the rice slowly and removes the moisture. Once the rice has been thoroughly dried, store in clean, sealed glass or plastic containers. Add leaves:  This is easiest and commonly used method. People from centuries are adding strong flavoured leaves to their rice containers. Depending where you live different kinds of leaves can be used to stop insects multiplying in the rice. For example in India neem leaves are used. If you cannot find neem leaves, add in bay leaves and store the rice. Just remember to use dry leaves and not the fresh ones. Store properly:  It is very important that you use good quality food plastic containers for storing the rice. Plastic container must be strong and must have very good gripped lid. A proper air tight container not only helps to keep the air out, it will also help prevent pests from getting into your rice. If not plastic, then the next alternative is the use of glass containers, again the ones with tight lid.

Do try these methods, so when the next time when you scoop out rice to prepare the meal you don’t discover some creepy crawlies. Yuck!

* Disclaimer :::: Not all the information mentioned above is my own and some of it are taken from various books and online sources like Google including the pics. My pics will have my logo on them , rest all are taken randomly from Google