Rice can be broadly classified based on cooking properties as glutinous and non-glutinous. Cooked glutinous rice is sticky, translucent, and chewy with a sweet aftertaste, while non-glutinous rice is fluffier, and less sticky and sweet. Furthermore, Glutinous rice contains more amylopectin, whereas non-glutinous rice contains more amylose.
Origin of glutinous rice
There are three groups of glutinous rice-based on grain sizes, small (japonica), medium (upland), and long slender (indica) grains. The origin of glutinous rice has become a hot topic for discussion by evolutionists who speculate that glutinous rice has two roots. Glutinous rice has been grown in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), especially in Laos, for 4,000 – 6,000 years, and at least 2,000 years in Yunnan, China, by Tai ethnic groups. In particular, ethnic groups in Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos helped conserve upland rice diversity. Furthermore, Laos has contributed the most remarkable genetic diversity in glutinous rice to the International Rice Genebank at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
The key to food security
Laos and Thailand are the only countries that consume glutinous rice as primary stable food. Laos consumes glutinous rice at 171 kg per year, the highest per capita consumption globally. In Thailand, glutinous rice is vital for household consumption in the north and northeast at 125-155 kg per capita per year. Thai farmers typically grow side-by-side, glutinous rice for household consumption and Hommali rice for cash. The current consumption of glutinous rice in Thailand has been on the rise recently due to the popularity of the northeastern cuisines in restaurants and street foods among Thais and tourists. From 2021 to 2026, the demand for glutinous rice is increasing healthily.
Sticky rice is not just sticky
Glutinous rice provides high amylopectin for the food and beverage industries. China is the major importer of glutinous rice from Thailand and Vietnam, mainly for alcohol production. Unlike such industrial utilisation, glutinous rice cooking is a delicacy that starts from rice cooking. Glutinous rice cannot be appropriately done in an ordinary automatic rice cooker but depends on traditional streaming practices in a unique bamboo basket. Different glutinous rice varieties are varied considerably on cooking qualities such as degrees of stickiness, chewiness, hardness, and fragrance.
Cultivation of glutinous rice in Thailand
Thailand is the world’s top glutinous rice producer on 3.17 Mha,
generating about 7-7.5 MT and exporting about 7% annually. RD6, the most
popular glutinous rice in Thailand and Laos, is widely grown in the northeast
of Thailand. RD6 and Thai Hommali Rice (KDML105 and RD15) are the three most
cultivated rice varieties occupying lowland rain-fed areas, constituting about
70% in northeastern Thailand.
Fluctuations in rainfall distribution and poor soil
fertility are critical constraints in the northeastern
lowland rain-fed. Originated from gamma radiation of KDML105, RD6 is as
susceptible to most biotic and abiotic stresses similar to the progenitor.
Resilience to infertile soil, mild drought, salinity, and acid sulfate soil
benefit high-quality Thai Hommali Rice and RD6 (Bureau of Rice Research and
Development, Thailand Rice Department, 2010). Nonetheless, RD6 has still been
the most popular glutinous rice in Thailand and Laos because of its soft-sticky
and perfume quality of cooked rice. Find more.
|Source: Online/ KSU
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