“Riceberry” Today… ‘More Than Rice!!!’

Riceberry rice can be grown all year round, resists blast disease very well, and tolerates iron toxicity in the soil. This variety has slender grains, and when cooked it is deep purple, soft and springy, with a slightly sweet taste and a unique aroma. When cooking, the amount of water can be adjusted to your preferred style of rice, or it can be made into rice porridge. 

From rice for cooking and eating with high nutritional value, today, through promotion by the Friends in Need (of PA) Volunteers Foundation, Riceberry rice has been processed into a wide variety of products, such as tea, coffee, noodles, khanom jeen noodles, khanom krok, bread, 

bakery items, cookies, donuts and more. These products will stand out at the “Friends in Need (of PA), Happily Full: Riceberry Organic Fair” held on 8–12 August.

In addition to the fair, information about Riceberry rice has been shared… The Friends in Need (of PA) Volunteers Foundation, whose mission is comprehensive help for flood victims, has focused on restoring farmers' livelihoods by promoting lower expenses, higher income and lasting safety through organic rice growing and changing the rice varieties grown.

The foundation has promoted growing “Riceberry” rice together with Kasetsart University and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) for 3 years now, and it has now “gone far in many dimensions”. 

Today, farmers are going far with ‘Organic Riceberry’. From a beginning of a few families growing a few hundred rai, it grew to thousands of rai, and this year it is planted on tens of thousands of rai. 

The selling price of Riceberry rice keeps improving, from milled rice at less than 100 baht per kilogram to 150 baht per kilogram now, because it has met “organic agriculture” standards, giving more than 4,000 Thai families, which with family members number in the tens of thousands, more secure occupations and livelihoods.

Another dimension is going far with consumption of ‘Organic Riceberry’. Riceberry menus go far: delicious while building health. Riceberry has good flavor, aroma and a beautiful color, and when processed it makes food, snacks, desserts and bakery items more delicious and appealing. Importantly, the “health compounds” in Riceberry make these products healthy food in many ways.

For pregnant women, Riceberry menus are delicious while building health, helping the baby develop fully and reducing the chance of cleft lip and cleft palate. For the health-conscious in general, they provide antioxidants, iron, vitamins and fiber for a strong body, and consuming it also helps farmers. 

The ‘Organic Riceberry’ market going abroad is another dimension. ‘Organic Riceberry’ is now being exported abroad, and in this dimension it helps Riceberry prices keep getting better.

Riceberry… today it is “going far” in many dimensions “Riceberry” Today… ‘More Than Rice!!!’

Source: http://www.dailynews.co.th