Brown rice

Brown rice, also called whole-grain rice, is “husked rice” under EU Regulation 1308/2013 – paddy rice from which only the husk has been removed; Czech Decree 18/2020 calls it “rýže pololoupaná nebo rýže natural” and reserves “rýže loupaná” for white rice. The husk makes up about a fifth of the weight of paddy rice. The grain keeps its pericarp, seed coat and germ, which are removed in white, wholly milled rice; so the grain keeps the characteristic colour of its pericarp.

The outer pericarp is poorly permeable to water; parboiled brown rice can be made quick-cooking by scouring off about 1 % of its weight. Without the protective husk the grain is more sensitive to its environment and fissures easily.

Brown rice can come in any grain size. The same regulation distinguishes round-grain rice (up to 5.2 mm, length-to-width ratio below 2), medium-grain rice (5.2–6.0 mm, ratio no greater than 3) and long-grain rice A or B (over 6.0 mm, ratio 2–3 or 3 and above).