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Product Snapshot: Sunrice Brown Rice and Barley
Written by Catherine Saxelby
on Wednesday, 27 August 2014.
Tagged: healthy eating, Product Snapshot, review

White rice – it’s bland, easy to eat, quick to cook, inexpensive and able to take on the flavours of anything. While it’s a nice counterpoint to other strong flavours, such as curries and spicy fare, white rice is not a nutritionist’s choice having been stripped of its nutrient-rich outer coat during milling. It’s high in refined carbs, high GI with little fibre and B vitamins for its digestion. Brown rice is the way to go …
Brown rice is so much healthier for you. It has three times more fibre and thiamin (B1) than white rice. There’s also a lot more potassium, magnesium, manganese and phosphorus. Heck then I spotted Sunrice’s newest blended grain product which contains 60 per cent brown rice mixed in with 40 per cent Barleymax ™ which is a souped-up variety of barley bred by CSIRO. Read more about BarleyMax here. Well I quickly realised that this is the the perfect combo of whole grain nutrition. Here’s why:
Pros
- You get the fibre and flavour of brown rice PLUS the joys of that ancient grain, barley – rich in soluble fibre including beta-glucan which can help lower blood cholesterol.
- It’s rich in the trace mineral selenium – a critical antioxidant and immune booster.
- You get the benefits from two grains instead of one, e.g. minerals, notably magnesium, phosphorous and manganese.
- You get heaps of fibre – 15.5 per cent – which is higher than regular brown rice at 3-4 per cent.
- You chew more which is important for satiety. The pack tells you to add more water if you want a softer rice.
- High in starchy carbohydrate at 62 per cent.
- Very little sodium (salt).
- Lowish in fat (4 per cent),
- Gives you vitamin E from the natural tocotrienols in barley (compounds that are converted into vitamin E once in the body).
- The inclusion of 40 per cent barley would definitely lower the GI of brown rice.
Cons
- Has a stronger, nuttier flavour than white rice and is brown in colour.
- Takes a good 30 minutes to cook by the absorption method (my preferred way). One cup of Rice & Barley becomes around 3 cups of cooked grain. I like to cook up a heap and freeze in containers.
- Because it contains gluten (from barley), it is not suitable for coeliacs or those intolerant of gluten.
Pack size: 750g uncooked grain in a handy resealable zip pouch pack.
Nutrition stats
Nutrient |
Per serve 1/3 cup raw (70g) |
Per 100g |
Energy - kJ | 1010 | 1440 |
- Cal | 241 | 344 |
Protein, g | 5 | 7 |
Fat, g | 3 | 4 |
Carbohydate, g | 43 | 62 |
Sugar, g | 2 | 3 |
Fibre, g | 11 | 16 |
Sodium, mg | 2 | 3 |
The bottom line
- This combination of brown rice and BarleyMax makes for a better more rounded grain blend than just rice alone. If you’re into brown rice, you’ll like this product. It teams beautifully with hearty meats and spicy slow-cooked dinners like the Moroccan Curry pictured – and the recipe is on the pack!
Photography by Nicholas Hannah
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About the Author
Catherine Saxelby has the answers! She is an accredited nutritionist, blogger and award-winning author. Her latest book Nutrition for Life is a new update on all the things you've read or heard about. Think insects, collagen, vegan eating, Keto dieting, vitamin B12, fast food and cafe culture. It has plenty of colour pictures and is easy to dip in and out of. Grab your copy NOW!
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Catherine Saxelby
Hi. I’m an accredited nutritionist, blogger and award-winning author. I can help you make sense of all those crazy fad diets and weird super foods.
My aim is to help busy women eat nutrient-dense foods so they maintain a healthy weight while having heaps of energy :) And stay productive.
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