Let’s recap:
We left off our characters on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, smiling, scheming and crafting. 
The plan? To make rice krispie squares from scratch – i.e. with all ingredients made from scratch. The epic success of the butter created a somewhat inflated sense of how easy this was going to be. The marshmallows had worked in the past too. All that was needed was puffed rice. How hard could that be?
… little did they know.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
After deciding to take on this challenge, the Fraser sisters started googling away to see how to puff their rice. Surprisingly, the usual plethora of google options weren’t coming up. But, in between the conversation forums talking about “gun puffing” techniques (scary!) we found this video.
“Ginger ale!” I exclaimed after watching it. “I know how to make that too! This is amazing!”
Except that it totally didn’t work.
Before - when I was still so sure this was going to work.
After. Enough said.
Our next attempt was trying to pop rice like pop corn. I’ll save the polemic and skip to the chase – it failed too.
So, friends, please – your thoughts, ideas, and help on this one. How on earth do you make puffed rice? I’ve read more about getting more moisture into the kernel in order to pop it like pop corn, but have had absolutely no success.
Help!
Okay so I don’t really know how to puff rice. Frankly, I always believed that Rice Krispies are really just puffed mini blobs of preservative laden batter and not really rice at all. Maybe that’s the problem. Does rice TRULY puff? Maybe it’s urban legend.
On another note, these two entries remind me of a joke that my brother and his friend once rambled on and on, which made me laugh hysterically at the time. Their “recipe” for marshmallows was: 1) Take bag of marshmallows. 2) Melt. 3) Pour into pan. 4) Let harden. 5) Cut into squares.
All subsequent recipes were the same. How to make chocolate: Melt chocolate. Pour into pan. Let harden. Cut into squares.
How to make ice cream: Take gallon of ice cream. Melt. Pour into pan. Freeze. Cut into squares.
I’m not sure why I found it so funny. But I did. So when I read how you were going to make Rice Krispies from scratch, I could hear Greg’s voice saying “Take bag of marshmallows. Melt…”
Now I’m curious how you’ll make the vanilla!
hahahaha… that’s brilliant! I can totally hear greg saying that!
mm… and vanilla! Good question! I’m putting it in the hat as a project idea! Thanks Louise!
Vanilla is easy – just cut up a vanilla bean and steep it in some vodka for a few weeks or more. Or, for more immediate gratification, use the seeds out of a fresh vanilla bean.
hi!
i’ve been following your blog since january and find it totally inspiring.
the vanilla is a totally awesome and easy project to do!! the only thing is, you kind of have to let it sit for a while and soak. start with some alcohol (i use brandy) and pour it into a jar with a bunch of vanilla beans. done! (though this could present something of a vortex of a challenge. now you have to make brandy!!)
This reminded me of my plan to grow a plot of wheat that will eventually culminate in a single loaf of bread… sort of ill-advised, ambitious, exceedingly cool if it worked, but ultimately better in concept than practice. I would be very impressed (and eager to hear the secret) if you successfully puffed rice in your own kitchen.
Okay, so I don’t know if this is really going to be all that helpful, since it’s fairly time-intensive, but I’ll tell you what I found, and leave the decision of using it or not using it in your hands.
Apparently the old-school orthodox way of making puffed rice involves cooking rice in salted water until a particular temperature is reached, and then pouring it into a clay pot filled with hot sand, and shaking that for a few seconds before straining out the sand. I don’t imagine you’re going to do that at home, but you can read about the process here, if you’re interested:
http://www.worldbank.org/html/cgiar/newsletter/june97/9muri.html
(It’s also kind of interesting from a food economy standpoint, as the puffed rice keeps for longer and commands a much higher price than raw rice.)
Alternatively, this definitely looks like a “homemade” quality rather than commercial quality approach (which is to say, probably very tasty, and with honest, natural ingredients, but less polished looking than the store-bought stuff), but here’s a more practical home method:
Depending on the temperature of your oil, this might turn out to be a bit oily, but since it’s going into rice krispie squares, that might not be such a bit deal.
The same guy (who looks a little bit like Quentin Tarantino, oddly) also has some videos talking about trying to air-pop rice (using either an air popcorn maker, after pre-cooking the rice, or using two sieves over an open flame) but he never really follows up with the results. If you’re interested, you can find his videos here:
and
I don’t suppose any of these are a silver rice krispie bullet, but maybe it’s a start? I hope it helps, anyway!
If you’re ready to adjust the recipe a bit, I’ve seen recipes for puffed amaranth all over the place. Not sure if it would work so well for rice though.
there *are* puffed rice cereals that are really nothing but rice blown up like popcorn. (I think there is pressure/vacuum involved.) for those who just want a healthier or at least more food like rice crispy square without the DIY they are an option. I have used them and as an added bonus the treats come out less sweet.
as for pop your own, Mom always pops her rice in a frying pan with a little oil before boiling it. just heat oil, add rice, stir. they are small and crunch and of course oily with a nutty toasted flavour. they aren’t light like styrofoam the way the ones in a bag are, but, I can attest, definitely soft enough to be edible–as kids we would always beg for spoonfuls before the water went in.
not sure if they would be a good substitute in the treats, maybe if you cut back on the butter a bit, though some don’t all pop and you would have to sort out the hard ones. even then I am guessing it might be hard like a granola bar.
btw she does this to all kinds of rice: arborio, basmatti, jasmine–though I think maybe the perverted, I mean converted, rices pop the most, certainly the short grains the least.
on the other hand, have you considered corn? I guess that would just be a popcorn ball, but isn’t that what rice crispy treats are, popcorn balls in a pan made with boxed cereal? maybe there is difference that is lost on me, certainly once you start sculpting with the stuff smaller grains are better.
Okay, so this is not related to puffing rice, and you probably already knew about it, but, just in case you didn’t, this event sounds like it’s up your alley:
http://www.notfarfromthetree.org/calendar?entry=35&display=month
(Tapping urban maple trees to make maple syrup/sugar, and then general community fun. If I didn’t presently live on the other side of the ocean, and in the middle of the desert, I’d definitely go.)