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Rice Water

A sweetened liquid made by boiling Carolina rice with water and cinnamon, then straining the pulp.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Rice Water

Why it works: Rice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,137 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Rice Water

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the rice well in two or three waters.

  2. In a stewpan, combine the rice and warm water.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil.

Simmer and strain

  1. Once boiling, add the cinnamon and let it boil for one hour until the rice becomes a pulp.

  2. Remove from heat and strain the rice water into a basin.

  3. Sweeten to taste.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Carolina rice
Breaks down into a pulp, releasing starch that thickens and gives the water body.
Cinnamon stick
Infuses the liquid with warm, aromatic flavor during the long boil.

The step that matters

Boiling for one hour until the rice becomes a pulp. Rice must cook long enough to break down fully, since the starch released from the grains is what gives the strained liquid its body. Stopping early leaves a thin, grainy result, while a gentle boil keeps the liquid from scorching on the bottom of the pan.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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