Naturopathic Control: rice

Uses & Benefits of Rice Starch

rice starch may be used in cosmetic preparations like hair shampoo, skin creams and soaps.
rice starch may help to control excess oil in oily skin.
removing the starch allows you to prepare edible rice that is more suitable for anyone concerned with reducing blood sugar levels, like diabetics.

To make rice starch, you will need the following.

rice, raw, organic & dry
water, COLD (NOT hot)*, roughly 10 times the weight of the dry rice
stick blender. If you use hot water or cook the rice, the non-starch parts of the rice will combine with the starch to the extent that makes it too hard to separate.
cheese cloth or other substitute made of cotton like a thin bandana
a large jug (for blending the rice and water and then for allowing the starch to settle)
a large 'catchment' container (to catch the strained off water and starch). I prefer a tall transparent jug. However, any large container will suffice.
dehumidification:

dehumidifier -- or --
baking sheet, good ventilation and sunlight on a dry day

storage container

Steps for making of Rice Starch

wash rice until water rinses clean. Ex 100g rice
fully immerse and soak in COLD water for roughly 45 minutes. Dry rice can be easily blended in water. However, from within roughly 20 minutes of being soaked, most types of rice begin to absorb water. This absorption helps the blending process necessary for extracting the maximum amount of starch. In fact, my first very successful attempt at this process was with rice flour that I had made previously. Soaking the flour before and after blending it endlessly likely helped considerably. Regarding the water, depending on your container, roughly 3 times the weight of the dry rice should suffice. Do NOT cook the rice or use hot water (see reason above*). Ex 300g COLD water
stick blend until the water becomes milky and the rice feels like very coarse sand.
Add more water (roughly 7 times the weight of the dry rice) and allow it to soak for an additional hour. Ex 700g COLD water.
stick blend again until very smooth. I used the highest setting on my blender to really breakdown the rice, even when I was starting with dry rice flour.
(The milky water contains the starch). Very GENTLY pass the liquid through a cloth. Stretch the cloth above the catchment container and drag a spoon back and forth as the liquid drains through the cloth. I successfully did this process with a cotton wrap, which is the same type of fabric used for making light weight bandanas or handkerchiefs. Other common types of cloth include a nut milk cloth or cheese cloth and into the catchment container. Do not wring the cloth as this is likely to rip it. I keep the cloth moderately taut by tying its ends in a knot on one side of underneath the catchment container.
To maximize your starch harvest, you may add more water to the remaining rice solids in the strainer and repeat the straining process.
cover the milky water and allow starch to settle for roughly 2 hours.
Rinse the starch as many times as necessary until the water above is clear. Even though the water is very milky and opaque, you should see the starch begin to settle within a few minutes. However, ensure the water becomes clear by rinsing the starch. To rinse the starch, drain off the milky water and then stir in fresh water with the settled starch. Repeat this step until the water becomes clear. (The remaining solid rice grains can be cooked with much less water than normal and seasoned to make rice that is low carbohydrate / starch-free and therefore more suitable for diabetics than otherwise).
pour off water and transfer to baking tray
allow to dry slowly in a dehydrator or the sun. Beware, applying to much heat that resembles cooking can result in a gelatinous effect. Rice starch becomes irreversibly gelatinous if combined with water and heat.
pulverize by blending the caked starch and then sift into a storage container. The amount of starch rendered is roughly 20% of the weight of the dry rice. Ex 20g rice starch.

CONTENT RELATED TO DIY RICE STARCH

potato starch
Fermented foods (sauerkraut, vegan yogurts)

Vegan milks and other drinks

Tofu

Chickpea tofu

Breakfast or snacks

Other

Vegan eggs
Topping (guacamole inspired)
Papaya salad to improve enzyme activity and improve digestive health
Sprouts (lentils)
Ghee (not vegan)

This ultra creamy rice milk is ideal for anyone with nut or soy allergies and high energy needs like athletes. Having said that, when compared with dairy milk, it has less protein and more carbohydrates, the latter of which is not ideal for persons suffering with diabetes.

This recipe is a very quick method for cooked rice milk. It renders either an extremely viscous milk I call a 'condensed rice milk' (the default product of this recipe), 'heavy cream rice milk' or a 'regular light weight rice milk' (the latter two of which are the result of diluting the condensed milk). This recipe gives you the choice to dilute to any of these levels of concentration from the same starting weight of raw rice grains. This method also provides a trick that makes this process much faster than other cooked rice milks.

You will need

Rice grains, ground, white raw, 8.8 times less than the required amount of condensed milk (Example If I want 100g of condensed rice milk, I need 11.4 g raw rice)
Water, 14 times weight of raw rice (Example 159.6 g).
Resources:

coffee grinder
heat source, spoon and pot. I prefer pots that are narrow and tall than otherwise so as to minimize the surface area from which water evaporates. (If you are concerned with heavy metals, ensure that metal implements are stainless steel, ceramic and so on. For soap making, also, use distilled water)
roughly 35 minutes overall
blender and bowl for mixing (I use tall jugs)
strainer
bottle for storing finished product

Steps

Use a coffee grinder to grind the rice grains. This is the time-saving trick I promised. Most people boil the rice grains whole and must cook for considerably longer. To be safe, I strain the ground rice to exclude the hard parts that can not be easily ground as those hard parts will not cook as quickly as the rest of the rice.
Add the raw ground rice to roughly 10 times its weight in boiling hot water (Example I add 11.4 g raw rice to 114 g boiling hot water). Heat on a low flame until the rice looks more like porridge and can be easily mashed into a smooth paste. This is likely to require up to 20 minutes.
Blend very well until a completely smooth paste. You should not be able to feel grains when rubbing this paste between your fingers. This is what I call the 'condensed rice milk'.
Add a little of the remaining water that is roughly 4 times the weight of the raw rice (Example 46 g) to help in scraping, straining and pouring the milk. If you strained and boiled the rice grounds sufficiently, the amount of fiber that remains in the strainer should be negligible. Discard or compost that remaining rice fiber. This milk is what I call 'heavy cream rice milk'
For what I call the 'regular light weight rice milk', add more water. A rule of thumb is to add water that is equal in weight to the condensed milk (from the previous step).