How white rice is made

White rice is brown rice with its bran and germ scoured off, a step that takes several machines in a row.

stations: 6
things upstream: 1
raw source: 1
step from the ground: 1

The short version

Harvested rice is threshed and dried quickly so it does not mold. A mill then cleans it, removes the husk, separates out the brown rice, and polishes off the bran and germ. Grading machines sort whole grains from broken ones. Parboiled rice is steamed before milling, which pushes vitamins into the grain's white center.

Thresh the harvest

Rice is ready to cut when its moisture is 20 to 25 percent. Combines reap it, and threshing separates the grain from the stalks.

20 to 25% moisture

Goes in
Rice
Dry it fast

The grain is dried as soon as possible to a moisture level that keeps mold away. Traditionally this meant spreading it on mats in the sun.
Clean the paddy

At the mill, the unmilled grain, called paddy, passes over screens and winnowing fans to remove stalks, stones and dust.
Remove the husk

Dehusking machines peel off the inedible husk. What comes out is brown rice, still wearing its bran and germ.
Polish off the bran

Further milling rubs away the bran and germ, grain by grain, producing successively whiter products until the rice is white.
Grade and bag

Grading separates whole grains from broken ones, and the rice is weighed and bagged.

End of the lineWhite rice

Worth repeating

Only about 8 percent of the world's rice is traded internationally.
Parboiled rice is steamed in its husk first, which hardens the grain and moves vitamins and minerals into the part that survives milling.