Pressure Cooking Rice and Grains

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Whole grains contain all the components of the grain - the bran, germ and endosperm. The outer layers (bran and germ) contain nutrients, fiber, vitamins and minerals. Whole grains contain three parts, and when grains are milled or refined, the bran and germ portions are removed, leaving only the endosperm.

The structure of all grains is about the same.

The bran, the fiber-rich outer part, accounts for 14-16% of wheat, 5-6% of corn.
The endosperm, the starchy middle part, makes up anywhere from 61-80% of all grain.
The germ, the nutrient-rich inner part, accounts for about 2-3% of wheat, 10-12% of corn.

In the US, potatoes account for 60 percent of the market and rice is a distant eight percent. There are many types of rice available, including short, medium, and long-grain brown rice, arborio rice, sushi rice, sweet rice, and white and brown basmati rice, and they all have distinctively different tastes and textures. Rice is the principal food grain for more than half the people in the world. In Japan, the average adult eats 175 pounds of rice a year, but in the US, we probably throw more of our 18 pounds at newlyweds than we actually eat . But that's starting to change.

When thinking of whole grains most people think of tasty and nutritious brown rice because they are rich in vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber, but there are over 7,000 varieties of grains around the world. The list of grains popular in America includes amaranth, barley, buckwheat, bulgur, corn grits, kamut, millet, oats, quinoa, and spelt.