Most enquiries we receive name a variety and a quantity, and stop there. The variety decides the grain. The form decides how that grain behaves in your customer’s pot, and it changes the price, the shelf life and the market the Rice belongs in. Four forms cover almost everything shipped out of Pakistan: white, steam, Sella and brown.
What is Sella Rice?
Sella Rice is paddy that has been parboiled in the husk, soaked and heat treated before it is milled. The process hardens the kernel, so the grain stays whole and separate through long cooking instead of breaking down. Creamy Sella comes out with an ivory tone. Golden Sella is parboiled further for a deep golden colour and a harder grain that resists clumping even when it is cooked in plenty of water.
That hardness is the reason caterers buy it. A kitchen cooking eighty kilos of biryani at a time cannot watch each pot, and Sella forgives the minutes it gets left on the heat.
What is steam Rice, and how is it different from Sella?
Steam Rice is steamed before milling, but it is not parboiled. The grain is firmed rather than hardened, so it cooks faster than Sella and comes out fluffy and non sticky, while keeping the pale colour and the aroma of raw Rice.
The short version: Sella is treated to survive long cooking, steam is treated to cook evenly. Sella changes colour, steam does not.
What does white Rice mean on a specification?
White is raw Rice, milled and polished with no heat treatment at all. In 1121 Basmati it averages 8.30 mm before cooking and carries the highest aroma of the four forms, which is why it is the form most households buy for biryani and pulao. It is also the least forgiving. Cook it a few minutes too long and the grain gives.
Where does brown Rice fit?
Brown Rice has only the husk taken off. The bran layer stays on the kernel with its fibre and its nutty taste, and the grain keeps the fragrance of the variety underneath. It sells into health food ranges and whole grain retail packs rather than food service. It also has a shorter shelf life than milled Rice, because the oil in the bran is still there, so plan your stock turn around it.
Which form should you order for your market?
| Form | Cooks | Colour | Buys it |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | Quickest, softest, highest aroma | Clean white | Retail, households |
| Steam | Fluffy, non sticky, even | Pale, close to white | Retail and food service |
| Creamy Sella | Firm, holds grain by grain | Ivory | Caterers, hotels, restaurants |
| Golden Sella | Hardest, resists breaking | Deep golden | Mandi, zarda, large kitchens |
| Brown | Longest, chewy, nutty | Bran brown | Health food and whole grain packs |
One variety can be supplied in several of these. 1121 Basmati runs as white, steam, Creamy Sella and Golden Sella. Super Kernel Basmati runs as brown, white and Sella. The Non-Basmati varieties run to the same logic at a lower price point, and Supri Sella is the parboiled long grain that looks closest to Basmati without the Basmati cost.
What changes on the specification sheet between forms?
More than buyers expect. Average grain length shifts between forms of the same variety, because parboiling and steaming change the kernel. In 1121 the white averages 8.30 mm and the steam 8.35 mm. Broken percentage, moisture and purity are agreed per contract and checked in our laboratory before a lot is offered, and each form has its own table on its variety page rather than one figure for the variety as a whole.
So when you compare two quotations, check that both are quoting the same form. A Sella price set against a white price is not a comparison.
How to ask for the right form in your enquiry
Send four things and a quotation can be priced the same day:
- Variety and form, for example 1121 Basmati Golden Sella
- Quantity and pack size, anywhere from 1 kg consumer packs to 50 kg bulk bags
- Destination port and the term you buy on, FOB, CFR or CIF
- Whether the bags carry your brand or ours
If you are not sure which form your market will take, order samples of two and cook them side by side. That settles the question faster than any specification sheet.
Request a quotation or ask for a sample, and tell us the market you are selling into. We have been milling and exporting Pakistani Rice for six decades, and the form is usually the part that decides whether the second container follows the first.