Rice, grains & starch
Starch is not the enemy. Fun facts about rice, sweet potatoes and the everyday bowl.
Starch is not the enemy: what a bowl of rice, a sweet potato and a handful of grains really do
What is starch, why does rice taste sweeter as you chew, how is it different from refined sugar, and how much rice fits your day? Read before you quit rice.
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Brown rice vs white rice: almost the same calories, so what is the difference?
Brown rice vs white rice: nearly the same calories. The real difference hides in a bran layer thinner than paper: fiber, vitamins B1 and E, and rancid oils.
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Red, black or plain brown rice: what is the color of your rice trying to tell you?
Where the red and purple-black of brown rice come from, why lime turns black rice soaking water pink, and how to choose red vs black brown rice or plain brown.
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What is germinated brown rice? When a grain "wakes up" before it hits the pot
Sprout brown rice a little and it cooks softer, tastes sweeter, and GABA rises 4 to 13 times. What germinated brown rice is, what is proven, and how to make it.
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Is cold rice different from hot rice? The surprising science in your fridge
Why fridge rice turns hard, why rice on warm stays soft all day, and the truth about resistant starch in cold rice: it is real, but smaller than you think.
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How long does cooked rice last? The invisible clock inside your rice cooker
How long does cooked rice last on the counter, on the warm setting, in the fridge and in the freezer? Clear time limits for a city as hot as Saigon.
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How to reheat frozen rice so it tastes freshly cooked: the secret is 0 to 5°C
How to reheat frozen rice without scorching edges and an icy middle. Freeze it flat, add a splash of water, reheat on low, and it softens like fresh rice.
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How to cook soft brown rice: how long to soak, how much water, and why yours keeps coming out hard
How to cook brown rice soft: it needs a far longer soak than white rice, about 7 hours at 30°C. Water ratios, resting and fluffing for rice that is never hard.
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What is amylose? Why some rice is sticky, some is fluffy, and why xôi clings to your fingers
What is amylose? It explains why rice is soft, fluffy or sticky enough to cling to your fingers. Use it to pick rice, measure water and make better fried rice.
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The glycemic index of rice: bún beats rice, cháo tops it, and a few other surprises
The glycemic index of rice: white about 73, brown 68, cháo 78, rice noodles only 53. What GI is, why rice varies, and why portion size matters just as much.
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Rice bran: from pig feed sacks to the cooking oil aisle
Rice bran is thin as paper yet holds most of the grain's fiber and fat. Why bran spoils so fast, what's in rice bran oil, and how to cook with it.
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Quinoa: a tiny seed from the Andes that's cousins with spinach
Quinoa looks like a grain but is a seed from the amaranth family. Protein in 100g cooked, how it compares with rice, and how to stop it tasting bitter.
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What is coix seed? The chewy pearls in your sâm bổ lượng, and how they differ from sticky rice
Coix seed is the milky, grooved pearl in Vietnamese sâm bổ lượng. It isn't rice, it's chewy in a different way from sticky rice, and it has more protein.
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Same sweet potato, boiled or roasted: why they're worlds apart
Why is roasted sweet potato syrupy sweet while boiled is gentle? Cooking method shifts its glycemic index a lot. Tips on boiling, steaming and eating it cool.
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Japanese, purple, honey: three sweet potato colors, three different stories
Yellow, purple and orange flesh aren't just colors. Each sweet potato type has its own pigment, sweetness and calories. How to pick one for each dish.
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Rolled, steel-cut, instant: one oat, three digestion speeds
Rolled vs steel cut oats: nearly the same nutrition, yet your body digests them at very different speeds. How to choose, cook, and dodge the instant-pack trap.
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How many bowls of rice is one bowl of phở? The starch story in bún, phở and mì
Phở calories come mostly from the noodles: one shop bowl can equal 1.5 to 2 bowls of rice. What bún, phở and mì are made of, plus tips for a gentler bowl.
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White, whole wheat or sourdough: which loaf suits your breakfast?
Brown bread isn't always whole wheat. Sourdough is tangy thanks to wild yeast. And a quirky trick: freezing then toasting bread can slow its blood sugar rise.
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"Whole grain" on the label: which words are real and which just look healthy
"Multigrain" and "brown" don't mean whole grain. How to read whole grain labels: the words you can trust, and the 10:1 rule for choosing in 10 seconds.
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"Dress up" your rice: the secret the Vietnamese family table has always known
Pair rice with protein and vegetables and the same bowl gets a gentler response. How to "dress up" starch, why veggies first helps, and the family table model.
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How many bowls of rice per meal? Measure it with your own hand
No kitchen scale needed: your hand is a portion guide you always carry. Starch in a bowl of rice, and how many carbs per meal suit your activity level.
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