Rice · 3 / 7
The Grain Microscope
From the field to the molecule in six steps: what a rice grain is made of, what milling removes, and why starch decides the texture.
Step 1 / 6
Paddy
Harvested rice is paddy: the grain is enclosed in a hull formed by two hard bracts, the lemma and the palea. Some varieties carry an awn on the lemma.
Sources: IRRI Rice Knowledge Bank (milling, grain quality); Juliano, Rice in human nutrition (FAO, 1993). Proportions are by weight of paddy. Diagrams are schematic.