Milling and Parboiling
       
  Introduction to the milling process and its outputs.  
  Appreciate the rice milling process as a codependent system which includes miller skill, quality paddy rice, and well maintained equipment.  
     
Rice milling objective
 

The basic objective of a rice milling system is to remove the husk and the bran layers and produce an edible white rice kernel that is sufficiently milled and free of impurities. Depending on the requirements of the customer, the rice should have a minimum number of broken kernels.

  
Art or science?
   It is often said that rice milling is more of an art than a science. To appreciate this statement, the following table and diagram highlight the variables that must be balanced:

If then
you have good quality paddy in a well-maintained mill that is operated by a skilled miller, the mill will produce high quality head rice.
you use poor quality paddy, the mill will always produce poor quality milled rice, despite the skill or the miller or maintenance of the mill.
the miller is not skilled, the use of good milling equipment and good quality paddy does not guarantee a high quality product.

Visually, this relationship can be represented as:

  
 
The rice milling process is codependent on good equipment, miller skill, and paddy rice.
Next lesson
   In the next lesson, you will learn about three types of rice mills and the characteristics of each.