Health x Wellness
Kinmemai: A Well-Polished Rice Product?
Can rice be a superfood? The Toyo Rice Corporation certainly think so. The Tokyo-based company will be introducing two new superfood rice products to Singapore this mid-June: Kinmemai Better White and Kinmemai Better Brown.
There is no official definition for ‘superfoods’, but it is usually used to describe food that is rich in nutritional value, such as spinach and salmon. Kinmemai products are widely available in Japan at leading supermarkets, top dining restaurants and even on board All Nippon Airways’ First and Business classes.
Kinmemai rice, according to Toyo, is a product of almost sixty years of research and development. It undergoes a patented rice processing treatment known as the Kinmemai Process, which enhances the taste and taste and nutritional values of the rice. In the 1970s, Keji Saika, now President and Head of Research & Development, developed an innovative buffing machinery to manufacture rinse-free rice which dramatically reduces water wastage.
The state-of-the-art rice buffing technique is touted to be gentler and more precise than conventional techniques; traditionally milled rice is often stripped down to the white rice centre, robbing the grain of nutritious components concentrated in the sub-aleurone layer, but the Kinmemai process removes just the water resistant, indigestible wax layer around the husk of the grain and thus retains all its beneficial elements, such as vitamins B1, B6, E, B3 (Niacin), and folic acid.
Another benefit of having the sub-aleurone layer intact is that the rice can absorb more water during the cooking process, so in effect, you eat about 10 percent less rice than your usual serving for Kinmemai Better White and about 20 percent less with Kinmemai Better Brown.
Toyo also says that Kinmemai rice is also tastier and sweeter than conventional rice and has umami flavour. They qualify their claim through the use of scientific measurements, using a patented taste machine that analyses rice grains based on the level of sweetness and umami so as to ensure quality.
Kinmemai Better White Rice has 1.8 times more fibre and seven times more vitamin B1 than regular rice and contains six times more lipopolysaccharides (LPS) – a natural booster for the immune system. Taste-wise, it is slightly buttery and mildly nutty, with a moist, creamy texture.
Kinmemai Better Brown uses a similar process to remove only the wax layer, which makes it easier to cook and easier to eat and digest when compared to conventional brown rice, which is comparatively rough and dry. Toyo also says that the taste is almost indistinguishable from white rice.
Kinmemai Better White (S$9.40, 1kg & S$41.50 5kg) and Kinmemai Better Brown (S$9.80, 1kg & S$44.00, 5kg) will be available at Cold Storage, Jason’s Market Place and leading Japanese supermarkets from mid-June 2017.
