Other Rice Uses: Household & Life Hacks

The versatility of U.S.-grown rice is not limited to taste, nutrition, or cuisine!  There are so many non-consumption uses for U.S.-grown rice.

Check out these clever household improvement and life hacks using uncooked rice:

Ripen Fruit Faster: In a large container, completely cover your fruit with rice. Fruits naturally produce ethylene gas. Once the fruit is picked, the gas aids the fruit in ripening. More gas equals faster ripening fruit. Rice traps the gas and helps ripen fruit and makes it edible faster. This method will speed up the natural process by several days so be sure to check your fruit once or twice each day until it is ripe to your liking.

Prevent Sugar Clumps: Toss a small cotton bag filled with rice into your sugar containers to absorb moisture and prevent clumping.

Protect Tools from Rust:  Place a sufficient amount of uncooked rice inside a porous bag at the bottom of your toolkit. This should help keep the humidity down and prevent rust from forming on the tools.When the uncooked rice becomes moist, replace it with a new set.

Sharpen Dull Blender Blades: A half of cup of uncooked rice can sharpen dulled out blender blades. Place rice into blender and blend until pulverized

Keep Shaker Salt from Sticking: Add rice to shaker. As a natural desiccant it will dry out shaker.

Clean Tricky Glassware: Narrow vases and decanters are always a challenge to clean. Use water, soap, vinegar, and a surprising household ingredient—rice—to scrub all those hard-to-reach spots.

Clean Coffee Grinder: Coffee beans have an oily residue that stay in your coffee grinder and make it hard to keep clean ... but not anymore! Grind uncooked rice in your coffee grinder and see the amazing results.

Decorate Glass Jars: Just like colored sand, you can use colored rice to decorate any clear glass containers. You can use plain white or brown rice in a decorative glass and then pop a tea light on top.

Weigh Down Luminaries and other Outside Decorations

Shine Tarnished Silver: By keeping a small container of rice where you store your cutlery, it will draw the moisture away from the silver and keep it sparkling.

Dry Out a Wet Phone: Place phone in large container of U.S.-grown rice overnight to dry. Note: Place phone in pantyhose before adding to rice to avoid dealing with loose grains.

Test Cooking Oil Temperature: drop a rice grain into the pan if it pops you are good to cook. If you drop a couple grains of rice into your oil and they sink, it’s not hot enough. If the grains of rice pop back up immediately and begins to bubble, the oil is hot enough – normally around 350-360 F.

Dry Flowers: Dry hardy blooms like roses, zinnias, dahlias, and marigolds by adding them to a rice-filled container. Start by putting about an inch of uncooked rice in a large plastic tub. Arrange the flowers on top and cover them completely with another layer of rice. Seal the tub and let it sit for about a week. Then, open the container and gently pour off the rice to reveal the dried flowers.

Save & Preserve Seeds: Any moisture to your garden seeds will ruin the batch, prevent this by adding small satchels of rice to your seed container.