I know not to eat it.

July 20, 2020 2:15 PM

Opened a gamma lid bucket with Zatarain's converted rice in it yesterday, rice has best by date of 2019. Wowwweee does it smell powerfully rancid. like worse than any old brown rice I've smelled. I thought converted rice had the bran removed, what gives? It IS rancidity, I know what that smell is. As a second question, how do I clean the bucket to get rid of the smell? Baking soda? Any ideas?
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

I would wash thoroughly with Dawn or similar first to remove any oils clinging to the bucket surface, and then smear it with a baking soda paste and let sit. Put it in the sun if you can. See if that puts a dent in it, at least, maybe repeat the whole process again.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:24 PM on July 20, 2020

Best answer: If it's like the kind of converted rice described in the wikipedia article, it still has the bran and would therefore go rancid.
posted by GuyZero at 2:51 PM on July 20, 2020

Best answer: Soap (I prefer Dawn), followed by vinegar, followed by baking soda; should do the trick. If the container is plastic, you may not want to use harsher chemicals (like lye or Barkeepers friend (Oxalic Acid) or Chlorox etc), as this may actually make the problem worse. I use this method to remove spicy smells from plastic food containers after storing Indian food items.
posted by indianbadger1 at 8:42 AM on July 21, 2020 [1 favorite]

After cleaning and drying the bucket, you could put some activated charcoal in there (with the lid on).
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:40 AM on July 21, 2020