Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1947-01-17
Long Memory
Aids Research

One day, however, he tried cook
ing and canning the patna variety
of rice from India. The results were
somewhat more encouraging. The
canned kernels seemed less gela-
tinous, almost fluffy. Then he re-
membered something he'd read
about the natives of Assam. 1t
seemed these natives suffered less
from beri beri than did natives Of
other oriental regions. Malek took
to the research books, and discov-
cred that the Assamites parboiled
their rice. That is, they soaked it
for days in water to loosen the tough
hulls, then they steamed it.
Up to that point Malek had
been trying to can polished
white rice. Rice whose vitamin-
filed bran layers had been
cleaned, hulled, milled, secured
and polished away. This was
the first mention of the treat
ment Of rough paddy rice be-
fore it was milled. He leaped
on it as possible clue.
He managed to get from a friend
bag of rough paddy rice-prepaid
fortunately, for by this time, Malek
was walking to and from his expert
mental laboratory, unable to afford
even a car token.
He soaked the rice for days.
When he needed to parboil the rice
in steam, he found an unused ster-
ilizer at a nearby hospital where the
internes were glad to help him. Even
his neighbors in his apartment
building were on hand to help him
spread the parboiled rice on the
roof to dry.
Now he had his precious parboiled
paddy rice. But the tough hulls on
the kernels posed a problem. An
ordinary rice mill handles rough
rice in carload lots. The only way
for Malek to mill hundred pounds
was to find hand mill. Well, he
found a hand mill and ground the
hulls from the rice. The rice was
canned, and this time the kernels
that rolled out were hard, dark,
chocolate colored and separate.
At that time, Malek didn't know
he had accidentally driven the wa
ter-soluble bran layers into the rice
kernel itself. He only knew this rice
was distinctly different than any he
had canned before.
What he had to do then was to
determine the length of time to soak
the rice, what temperature to use,
under what steam pressure to par
boil it. 1t took Malek months, work.
ing with makeshift equipment to
hit upon the right formula.
Finally he obtained rice which,
when canned, came out fluffy, with
each grain separate and perfectly
tender. The layers of bran driven
into the kernel impaired a differ
ent nut-like bran flavor-and the
long cooking at high temperature
had made the rice sterile. But the
best part of all-which he discov-
cred through scientific analysis
was the fact that this new rice was
unbelievably rich in vitamins.
The army and navy were inter-
ested, and Malek offered them his
patents for the wars duration. At
the present time he's busy licensing
rice mills here and abroad to use
his process.
About the only thing he has
left to worry about now Is how
to obtain the rice in order to
process it. The rice supply, as
any grocery-haunting housewife
will know, is not what it used
to be. The world supply of rice
Is short this year, and a large
percentage Of rice raised in the
United States has been allocated
to countries where rice is sta
pie food. This scarcity explains
why rice, along with sugar and
syrup, is the only food still re-
manning under price control.
But once the world supply in
creases, there'n be more rice, more
nutritious rice, more flavorful rice.
Furthermore, Malek guarantees that
the brand-new bride won't have to
make any last-minute switches in
the dinner menu because the rice
she cooked turned out all wrong.
Oh! - what about the Aramaic
classics? couldn't do justice to
that one - not without little more
space and lot more help from
Malek.