Rice quiz

By Sam McManis
McClatchy Newspapers
(MCT)
It’s been estimated that Americans consume more than 26 pounds of rice per person annually. Heck, that’s just an average week here at The Quiz. So imagine our delight when we heard that USDA researchers in the Southwest have developed eight new rice varieties.
Take our quiz on some of the new kids on the plate.
1. One new type is Neches, a waxy rice variety used mostly in ingredients. This is the first time the U.S. has entered the waxy rice marketplace. Which country produces nearly all the waxy rice?
a) China
b) Japan
c) Thailand
2. A new domestic competitor in the long-grain basmati rice market, long dominated by India and Pakistan, is called Sierra. Where is it grown?
a) South Lake Tahoe
b) Grinnell, Iowa
c) Beaumont, Texas
3. What is the name of a new rice that’s being used in many canned soups?
a) Campbellice
b) Dixiebelle
c) Canorice
4. What is the major buzz around a new brown rice variety called Hidalgo?
a) It can cook in 10 minutes
b) It skips the usual brown-rice stickiness
c) It doesn’t taste like cardboard
5. Rondo is a rice variety that features a shorter plant that matures earlier. In which product is it being sold?
a) rice milk
b) rice flour
c) both
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ANSWERS: 1: c; 2: c; 3: b; 4: a; 5: c.
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Source: www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/rice/index.html
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(c)2011 The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.)
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