Where Does Rice Come From?

A bowl of rice can sit beside your dinner, soft and ready to eat. Where Does Rice Come From? Its journey begins long before anyone puts a pan on the stove.

Rice comes from a plant that looks like tall grass. A grain of rice is a seed from that plant. The rice in your bowl began as seeds growing outdoors.

First, a farmer plants rice seeds in the soil to grow new plants. The farmer makes sure they have water. Soon, little green shoots grow up through the soil.

Sunlight helps the rice plants make their own food so they can grow. Their roots take in water. With enough sunlight and water, the shoots grow into tall, leafy plants.

Rice grains grow in branching bunches near the tops of the stems. Each grain has a husk, a tough covering that protects it. Inside that covering is the rice people eat.

When the rice is ripe, the farmer gathers the crop. This job is called harvesting. The farmer drives a harvesting machine through the field to collect the rice.

Can you guess whether the farmer keeps the long stems for your bowl? No, the farmer needs the grains. Using the harvesting machine, the farmer separates the grains from the stems.

Freshly gathered rice still holds some water. The farmer dries the grains before storing them, so they keep well. Each grain still wears its tough covering during this step.

Next, the farmer sends the rice to a mill, a place where workers prepare grains. Mill workers use machines to remove the husk. Under the husk, they find brown rice.

Brown rice has a thin brown outer layer that people can eat. To make white rice, mill workers rub off that layer with machines. The rice underneath is white.

Workers pack the white rice into bags to keep it together for its trip. A driver carries the bags to a shop. A grown-up buys some to bring home.

At home, a grown-up cooks the white rice with water in a pan. The grains soak up water and soften. The grown-up handles the hot pan while you stay safely back.

The farmer plants seeds, grows rice, harvests each grain, separates it, and dries it. At the mill, workers remove the husk and brown layer for white rice. Workers pack it, a driver delivers it, and a grown-up cooks it. Rice comes from seeds on a rice plant.

Now you know the journey inside your little bowl of rice.