Celebrate! - Fun Food Facts

Rice Pudding Day

Rice pudding is made from rice mixed with water, milk, coconut milk, evaporated milk or cream and sometimes vanilla, cinnamon, and raisins. A variety of recipes are available to prepare the dish, and Rice Pudding Day encourages us to sample at least one, if not more! While many enjoy the dish as a dessert, it may also be served for breakfast or as a side course. So there's an opportunity to try it out more than once on this food holiday.

Dating back to the Tudor period, the earliest rice pudding recipes were called white pot. One of the first-known methods was written down by Gervase Markham in 1615.

Rice puddings are found in nearly every area of the world. Recipes can greatly vary even within a single country. The following ingredients are usually found in rice puddings:

Our favorite rice pudding recipe comes from Puerto Rico, arroz con dulce. The pearl rice is first rinsed until the water is clear and most of the starch has been removed, then it is left over night in water (this process makes it easier to cook and gives the rice better texture). Coconut milk, cream of coconut, evaporated milk, cloves, ginger, raisins (soaked in rum), vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg and the option of lemon zest is simmered until the coconut milk is infused with all spices. The rice is then drained and placed in a hot pot that has been coated in butter. The infused coconut milk is then poured on the rice and cooked until rice is tender and sticky. Coconut milk and cream can be replaced with more milk and cream cheese; pistachios can be substituted for raisins. Puerto Rican rice pudding is also popular in Colombia and Venezuela.