Cream of the Crop

Telephone lines provided to give people information on the benefits of germinated brown rice became congested after thousands with health concerns tried to find out how to gain access to the crop.

The Rice Department told Daily Xpress that up to 2,279 people called the department between January 6 and 15 to ask for information and register for a free course on how to make the rice and other products.

All seats for the training course held every Wednesday are fully reserved till March 4, said an official in charge of the registration.

Healthy rice juice

The germinated brown rice or GABA-enriched rice gained huge interest following reports in early January that the healthy rice juice had been offered to His Majesty the King, so the department opened phone lines to help thousands hungry for information.

"Each time our officials hung up, another call would come in immediately. This happened during the first week after opening the lines," the official said.

About 250 people on average have called the department each day during the period. Most of them asked how to make the rice juice, where to sell it and what price could they command.

The department also reported that the rice and products made from the crop have been in short supply.

How to make it

A trend

Associate Professor Orapin Kerdchoechuen of the Centre for Research and Development of Tropical and Sub-Tropical Crops at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi is one of the researchers who developed the rice over the past five years and sold it for more than two years. She said eating the rice has now become a trend.

"Only two days after an article was published on the rice, over 100 people called us to reserve 400 kilograms as it has been out of stock since the beginning of this month," Orapin said.

Krongkarn Jarupoom, a 72-year-old housewife, was one of those who attended the free course despite a long wait. She wanted to learn about the rice in the hope that it would help cure her husband's forgetfulness and her diabetes.

"I'll try to make the rice every day, though it's difficult to find rice suitable for germination," Krongkarn said.