# Puffed Rice - how to ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 6, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814 "2013-07-06T21:40:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MrQwertyasd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@MrQwertyasd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrQwertyasd)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/1 "2013-07-06T21:40:01Z")
How is puffed rice made ? The type you get in rice cakes or in breakfast cereal like Puffa Puffa Rice ? I’ve tried- Sticking raw rice in the oven Heating in a pan with oil, like popcorn Raw rice in a popcorn machine Deep frying raw rice None of those worked. I’m guessing maybe it is wet rice super heated in hot air quickly to evaporate the moisture and expand the grain - but I can’t try this. So puffed rice, how to make ? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/2 "2013-07-06T21:58:03Z")
You [shoot it from a gun](http://www.mrbreakfast.com/ucp/290_7714_ucp.jpg). 🙂 That old marketing slogan was more-or-less accurate. As the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffed_rice) notes, “heating rice kernels under high pressure in the presence of steam”. As the article notes, it’s a common dish in many areas (where I imagine that many of them don’t actually use guns), but it does suggest that what you’ve been lacking is the high level of pressure (and possibly steam, as well). ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/3 "2013-07-06T21:59:49Z")
If you just google “How to Make Puffed Rice” you get a perfectly good answer. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/4 "2013-07-06T22:06:19Z")
Your missing ingredient is sand: [- YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI28XnoZcMw) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/5 "2013-07-06T22:09:42Z")
Since the OP is looking for recipes, let’s move this to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/6 "2013-07-06T22:10:00Z")
Reported to recommend move to Cafe Society. Ninja’d by a mod - first time for everything. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/7 "2013-07-06T22:27:02Z")
There used to be few things more closely guarded than cereal manufacturing techniques. The explosive decompression “shot from guns” method was one of the first to be widely publicized, I believe. It’s possible you could emulate it by pressure-cooking the rice and then releasing the pressure, but I think you’d have to get the rice/water combination exact (especially at the moment of release) and use quite a bit of initial pressure. I don’t think most pressure cookers can release the pressure fast enough, either. ---
**Author:** ![MrQwertyasd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@MrQwertyasd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrQwertyasd)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/8 "2013-07-06T22:30:18Z")
So I need sand or a shotgun. Yeah move to cafe, didn’t see the cafe. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/9 "2013-07-06T22:43:13Z")
> [@MrQwertyasd](#): > > So I need sand or a shotgun. Don’t all the best recipes? ---
**Author:** ![sylmar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@sylmar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sylmar)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/10 "2013-07-08T19:59:26Z")
For the pacifist, no firearms involved in the manufacture of rice krispies. [http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question393.htm](http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question393.htm) (No mention about the necessity of sand though…) ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/11 "2013-07-08T20:54:15Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > You [shoot it from a gun](http://www.mrbreakfast.com/ucp/290_7714_ucp.jpg). 🙂 > > That old marketing slogan was more-or-less accurate. As the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffed_rice) notes, “heating rice kernels under high pressure in the presence of steam”. > > As the article notes, it’s a common dish in many areas (where I imagine that many of them don’t actually use guns), but it does suggest that what you’ve been lacking is the high level of pressure (and possibly steam, as well). I remember coming across “Gunner” listed in an official government list of occupations many years ago, and being amused to discover that it meant the person who operated the applicable cereal processing machinery rather than anything to do with firearms or artillery. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/12 "2013-07-08T21:05:32Z")
No harm in learning how, but the real question is why? I mean, has the price of puffed rice skyrocketed recently? Am I going to have to learn how to make Rice Krispies next? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/13 "2013-07-09T05:21:59Z")
I want to know why someone stuffed rice into a gun and shot it. I mean the first person to do it. I doubt they thought they were going get puffed rice. Probably something along the lines of “the perfect crime”. Evil Genius thinking: I shoot someone with rice. Birds eat the rice. No evidence. I get away with MURDER!!! Later that day… “Blam!” “Ow! Crunch crunch crunch. Hey this is delicious.” EG “Curses! Foiled again!” ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/14 "2013-07-09T05:50:00Z")
> [@MrQwertyasd](#): > > So I need sand or a shotgun. > > Yeah move to cafe, didn’t see the cafe. Or you need Shot From Guns, but she does come around these parts much anymore. Now I have to wonder if that’s where she got her username from? ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/15 "2013-07-09T05:51:42Z")
Too late to say ‘sand’. I saw this done when I was in Vietnam, they stir a great big wok loaded with rice and sand and it magically and deliciously pops - precursor to making a type of Vietnamese candy. Never tried it at home though. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/16 "2013-07-09T07:04:26Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > There used to be few things more closely guarded than cereal manufacturing techniques. The explosive decompression “shot from guns” method was one of the first to be widely publicized, I believe. > > It’s possible you could emulate it by pressure-cooking the rice and then releasing the pressure, but I think you’d have to get the rice/water combination exact (especially at the moment of release) and use quite a bit of initial pressure. I don’t think most pressure cookers can release the pressure fast enough, either. I think it would be dangerous if they could. It might be possible to get a similar effect by cooking the rice, then placing it in a vacuum chamber - going from ambient pressure to vacuum is somewhat analogous to going from high pressure to ambient. ---
**Author:** ![danielwilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@danielwilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danielwilson)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/17 "2013-07-10T14:20:30Z")
Sure, you can buy Rice Krispies or something similar - but making your own puffed rice at home is not too difficult, and is much healthier! This techinque works with any starch. Fully cook your rice, and then dry it out (it usually needs about 24 hours to dry completely). Then take an oil with a high smoke point (such as canola oil) and heat it in a wok. Pour your rice into a strainer, and then submerge in the oil for a few seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/18 "2013-07-10T14:26:15Z")
> [@danielwilson](#): > > Sure, you can buy Rice Krispies or something similar - but making your own puffed rice at home is not too difficult, and is much healthier! This techinque works with any starch. Fully cook your rice, and then dry it out (it usually needs about 24 hours to dry completely). Then take an oil with a high smoke point (such as canola oil) and heat it in a wok. Pour your rice into a strainer, and then submerge in the oil for a few seconds. Healthier? This is deep fried cereal. And Kraft thought they’d found every possible way to make cereal less healthy. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/19 "2013-07-10T15:18:43Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > It’s possible you could emulate it by pressure-cooking the rice and then releasing the pressure, but I think you’d have to get the rice/water combination exact (especially at the moment of release) and use quite a bit of initial pressure. I don’t think most pressure cookers can release the pressure fast enough, either. I was going to say cook rice in a pressure cooker, then open it just before it’s cooked. ---
**Author:** ![Detroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Detroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Detroit)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814/20 "2013-07-11T17:31:47Z")
For that matter, how do you make “cracked wheat”. Do you “crack it?” HOW? Inquiring minds and all that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/puffed-rice-how-to/662814.md?page=2)