Rice processing happens in a number of roadside processing facilities through Tamil Nadu.
The rice is grown in paddies, and we understand the threshing (removing the grains from the plants) happens in the fields. The rice, still in its husk, is brought to the factory.
Some is dried for stock feed, the drying grains tossed/turned by women shuffling their feet through it.
Most of the raw grains are soaked for 24 hours in a large concrete open-topped tank, and then boiled for three hours.
The boiled grains, still in the husk, are then dried in the sun.
The grains are turned in a beautifully synchronised manner. The first man walks down the outside, flicking in the outermost 8" or so. The damp rice on the dry shows where it lands (too subtle to show). Next, a series of men then fold the next 8" outwards, so by the time you have five men at the far end, you have turned a metre's worth of rice.
Once dried, the rice is then run through a series of machines to remove the outer husk (making brown rice), and then the germ (making white polished rice).
White polished rice has far less nutritional value, but keeps much better.
The machines weren't running when we were there, but the effect was shown to us by one of the workers crushing a small handful of the husked grains between his hands.
The rice is grown in paddies, and we understand the threshing (removing the grains from the plants) happens in the fields. The rice, still in its husk, is brought to the factory.
Some is dried for stock feed, the drying grains tossed/turned by women shuffling their feet through it.
Most of the raw grains are soaked for 24 hours in a large concrete open-topped tank, and then boiled for three hours.
The boiled grains, still in the husk, are then dried in the sun.
The grains are turned in a beautifully synchronised manner. The first man walks down the outside, flicking in the outermost 8" or so. The damp rice on the dry shows where it lands (too subtle to show). Next, a series of men then fold the next 8" outwards, so by the time you have five men at the far end, you have turned a metre's worth of rice.
Once dried, the rice is then run through a series of machines to remove the outer husk (making brown rice), and then the germ (making white polished rice).
White polished rice has far less nutritional value, but keeps much better.
The machines weren't running when we were there, but the effect was shown to us by one of the workers crushing a small handful of the husked grains between his hands.
A family of four gets through around 25kg of rice a month, or 300kg a year. A rice paddy of around 2000 sq ft, cropping three times a year, will supply about this much. This was the size of two of our apartments at Madurai!
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