RICE. 97 



harsh and dry. A writer in the Journal dcs Sciences? 

 des Letlres, ct des Arts, has, indeed, given directions, 

 by following which, it is said, fermented bread -nay be 

 made of rice without admixture with the flour of any 

 other grain.* 



We are told that the Chinese make- a kind of wine 

 of rice, which resembles, both in colour and flavour^ 

 the white wine of Xeres ; but it is not known by 

 what process they are enabled to succeed in tiiis 

 manufacture. In the East, considerable quantities of 

 ardent spirit are extracted from this grain by fermen- 

 tation and distillation. 



It has been declared impracticable to manufacture 

 beer from rice, in consequence of the difficulty which 

 attends its previous conversion into malt. M. Du- 

 brunfaut has stated that this necessary process may 

 be readily and completely accomplished in the mash- 

 tub, by mixing one part, by weight, of malted barley, 

 with four parts of crushed rice, which has previously 



* The method here referred to is as follows. First reduce 

 the rice to powder in a mill, or throw the whole grains into 

 water at nearly a boiling heat, and allow them to soak during 

 some hours. Then drain off the water, and when the rice shall 

 have become sufficiently dry, beat it in a mortar, and pass the 

 powder through a fine sieve. This flour must next be placed 

 in a kneading-trough, and moistened in the necessary degree 

 with water rendered glutinous by boiling whole rice in it for 

 some time ; add salt, and the proper quantity of leaven or yest, 

 and knead the whole intimately together. The dough must 

 then be covered with warm cloths and left to rise. During 

 this fermentative process, the dough, which was of a pretty 

 firm consistence, will become so soft as not to be capable of 

 being formed into loaves. It is, therefore, placed in the requisite 

 quantities in tin forms, and these being covered with large 

 leaves, or with sheets of paper, are introduced into the oven, 

 the heat of which speedily sets the dough sufficiently, so that 

 the tins being reversed, their contents are turned out upon the 

 leaves or pnper- The bread, when perfectly baked, will be of 

 a fine yellow colour, similar to that imparted to flour by the 

 yolks of eggs, and when new is said to be sufficiently agreeable. 

 VOL. XV. 9 



