What makes Sticky rice so sticky?

by Fauzia
Sticky Rice

Do you ever lay in bed, in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep and think about all these weird questions that come in to your mind?

One of mine was what make sticky rice so sticky? I was on a work trip. I had owned a few retail shops in Canada and I was on my way to China to do some exploring/buying at the largest fair in the world. During the fair, there was a five-day break in that break, I schduled a three day tour to Beijing, as I was in GuanZhou. It was a fantastic tour and I leared a whole lotta good information.

One of the tour guides had mentioned that the Great Wall of China, some parts of it were made and put together with sticky rice. I thought WOW, that’s kind of weird, how is sticky rice able to hold together huge, blocks of concrete? The bricks in the Great Wall of China are held together by sticky rice mortar. There were also many other things I learned that nearly 400,000 thousand men were killed and buried inside the wall too! There is a story you may want to google, about this lady who heard her husband weeping behind the wall. Definitely worth the read.

So this is Glutinous rice (Oryza sativa var. glutinosa; also called sticky rice, sweet rice or waxy rice) is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia, Northeastern India and Bhutan which has opaque grains, very low amylose content, and is especially sticky when cooked. (Wikipedia)

I thought I need to do a little bit more research. The Chinese scientist discovered when they went to do an analysis on the mortar at the Great Wall of China. They found limestone, water and sticky rice. The one ingredient that tip-off the scientists was the presence of amylopectin, a carbohydrate found in rice. I thought this was super cool!

The Great Wall of China is the longest structure in the world can can be seen from space!

While travelling in SE Asia and in the countires mentined above, you definitely will have the opportunity to try it. It is super sticky and tastes great when it is warm with BBQ meat, fresh ginger slices and a thai green chillies to wake those dormant taste buds.

More fun facts coming soon!

FauZia

Rice

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