Although we have just started the year, for many of you a new countdown has begun, that of your Wedding ! We want everything to be perfect, that no detail is missing, that the wedding list is prepared, the honeymoon … in short, everything controlled for when the big day approaches.
Although we all know that the great forgotten of weddings is always the same,The rice ! Well, today I leave you some very simple instructions, very easy to follow and do, since if we are a little handyman, our guests will love it: Original colored rice that you can have at your wedding and the best of all is that it is not toxic, in this way the little ones will not be in danger if they put it in their mouths.
Utensils that we will use to have an original colorful rice.
- Steamed rice. We can choose this rice since it does not have as much starch as traditional rice and it will be easier for us to dye it (the brand does not matter, it is the one you want to use).
- For staining with pinocchio or crepe paper, which is widely used for crafts. We will find it in any stationery store.
- With food dye or coloring, we can find it in any specialized food store or supermarket.
- A large colander or vegetable drainer to drain and remove the rice from the dye when we have achieved the color we want.
- Container for water, bucket, saucepan in the case of using dye or food coloring or any other container that we want to use.
- Trays, in this case made of cardboard (they are disposable).
- Aluminum foil or absorbent paper.
- Latex gloves to avoid staining your hands with the dye.
- Disposable plastic spoons for stirring rice.
- Cornets, organza bags, test tubes … it depends on the imagination that you want to put to surprise the guests or the bride and groom.
If we want to dye the rice with crepe paper or pinocchio :
To make it look good, the ideal is to dye it from half a kilo to half a kilo, it will take longer, but we will be able to better control and keep track of the amount of rice that we are going to need. We will repeat as many times as we think is necessary and the amount we put in the cones, bags or where we want to take the rice.
- We take the bucket or container that we are going to use and put the paper in pieces in pieces, for half a kilo of rice we would need half a roll, but if we want to give it a stronger tone we will put pieces of paper until we reach the desired tone, to speed up the process. We will put with boiling water or with hot water in this way the pinocho paper will release the dye faster.
- With the help of the strainer or drainer, we will wash the amount of rice that we are going to dye until the water runs completely clear, although we all know that steamed rice has less starch than normal rice.
- After the two hours that we have allowed the pinocchio paper to rest and with the help of latex gloves, we will remove it and drain it well, making a ball with it. We will see that the water is already completely dyed in the color we have chosen.
- Once the previous step is done, we put the amount of rice that we want to dye in the bucket and we will leave it inside for about 2 or 3 hours so that it absorbs the maximum color of the water, moving it from time to time with the help of a plastic spoon.
- After the time for soaking the rice with the dye has passed, we will drain it with the drainer or with the strainer and we will go through cold water again to remove the excess dye (the water must be light in color) and so on We make sure that it has been dyed as we wanted, in this way we make sure that it will not stain the clothes when we use it at the wedding.
- We will place our rice in the paper trays that we will have previously lined with aluminum foil, the rice has to be fully extended and thus we will let it dry for three or four days (depending on the temperature we have, it may be more), from time to time when we are moving it and changing position to help it dry better and the rice does not compact, leaving the grains loose.
- We already have an original rice of varied colors or a single color to use at the wedding, now is when we can pack it in test tubes, organza bags, cones, etc.
We already have our original colored rice for wedding, different forms of presentation to our guests.
If we want to dye the rice with food dye or coloring :
- With the help of the strainer or drainer, we will wash the amount of rice that we are going to dye until the water runs completely clear, in this way we make sure that the ink will be better impregnated.
- We will put a few drops of food coloring in a saucepan and we will boil the rice as if we were going to cook it for about 4 or 5 minutes; we can mix different colors to achieve a unique color or new colors with the mixes.
- After the previous time we will drain the rice and run it through the cold water tap until the excess color is removed.
- We will put our original colored rice to dry on the paper trays with the aluminum foil (we can also use kitchen blotting paper in this process).
- Finally, we will have our original colorful wedding rice ready to pack it where we want and give it to our guests.
To make things easier for you, I leave you a sample of printable labels for the details of your guests, as well as a sample of how some cardboard cones with white doilies would look. I hope you liked it and gave you some idea to make your wedding more original.
Printable labels for your guests.
Original colorful rice cones to give to your guests.
I want to remind you again that this original colored rice for weddings DOES NOT STAIN THE CLOTHES ; In the case of the one that we have dyed with food coloring, it is totally harmless both for people and if a little bird picks it up from the ground to eat it.
And … Long live the bride and groom !
