Pakistan Organic Farms is one of the leading organic rice suppliers and producers in Pakistan, with three rice mills in Karachi, Lahore and Nankana Sahib. Being the pioneer of organic rice producer, we have contributed a lot in terms of educating the Pakistani farmers about the major challenges in the production of organic rice farming. To investigate further, let’s take you through the process of our supply chain and how we add value in supplying organic rice to the USA, Western Europe, Northern and Central Europe, according to the USDA certified and EU Organic Standards.
Best Organic Rice Suppliers in Pakistan
The most vital elements of organic rice quality are:
- Degree of Milling Recovery
- Appearance, shape and size of organic rice; and
- Eating and cooking characteristics
Degree of Milling Recovery
Milling recovery refers to total milled rice, which includes broken and head rice. Through out the rice growing world including Pakistan and India, considerable importance is given to head rice recovery. In general, the head rice magnitude could differ from as high as 65% to as low as 25%.
Appearance, Shape and Size of Organic Rice
Consumer’s acceptability of organic rice size, shape and appearance are the most important components in the selection of organic rice suppliers. Translucent and long slender organic rice is mostly preferred by our clients in the Middle East and the USA. In order to classify organic rice in to fine and coarse groups, parameter of quality index (length/width x thickness) is used at our manufacturing facilities. Fine grain are classified if the value from the quality index is more than 2.0 in other respects it is coarse.
Eating and cooking characteristics
A wide range of tests are conducted in the manufacturing of organic rice by Pakistan Organic Farms’ mills. Some of them are:
Amylose Contents:
Up to 90 percentage starch is constituted by milled rice. Starch includes amylopectin and amylose. Eating and cooking qualities of milled rice is determined by the ratio of amylose to amylopectin. Following are the criteria for the the classification of rice as waxy (1-2% amylose) and non-waxy (>2% amylose), very low (2-9% amylose), low (9-20% amylose), intermediate (20-25% amylose), and high (25- 35% amylose) (Ahmad & Akram, 2016).
Temperature of Gelatinization
Ahmad and Akram (2016) pointed out that positive correlation was noted in gelatinization temperature and cooking time of rice. In vigorously boiling water, normally pre soaked rice takes around 5 to 6 minutes for cooking. Gelatinization temperature ranges between 55 degree celsius to 79 celsius. Intermediate gelatinization temperature of (70°C-74°C) are the most preferred ones.
Elongation Ratio
Normally some varieties of rice extends more in size than others after cooking. One of the desirable characteristics of organic rice grain quality is elongation ratio, which is the ratio of fully cooked grain length to raw grain length. Normally 100 percent elongation ratio is achieved in high quality organic rice.