I tried it a lot of times, but I guess my appreciation towards eating rice always wins. The longest time I was able to veer away from rice meals for dieting purposes was just for a week. I just can’t help not to eat rice with sinigang or kare-kare or whatever viands are available. I just felt incomplete.
Then I realised, I doesn’t really need to eliminate rice in my diet. After all, it is a staple food in every Filipinos house. What I just need to do is to pick the right kind of rice in every meal. I bet you didn’t also know, there are lot of variations of it.
Keep on reading and will educated you about it.
A few days ago, I was invited over by Sunnywood to join them on their very special event. It wasn’t just an introduction for a brand new product but a simple get to get together to celebrate their existence for the past 20 years.
It was year 1997, September, when Sunnywood, through their flagship brand Harvester’s, introduced its different white rice variants to Filipinos in the supermarket. Back then, Filipinos usually buy rice in the wet markets or at the nearest neighbourhood sari-sari stores. Sunnywood has helped change that by riding on the growing acceptance and reach of the supermarkets and malls with its branded rice.
“To have a successful brand, you need to earn the trust and confidence of the consumers. We believe we have done that through consistently providing good quality rice over time. That same trust and confidence also define our relationship with our customers — supermarkets, restaurants, etc. — and out sponsors. We treat them with utmost respect,” Sunnywood President Romeo Ong said.
I was able to meet all the members of the family who owns the brand. The event I attended was really intimate that we were able to have the time to really talk and get to know more about the brand and the people behind it. Mr. Romeo explains that their support to the local farmers has widely developed over the years making it possible for the business to expand to two more brands: Jordan Farms and Farm Boy, that caters to two different market.
With Jem, Gus, Ruth and Duane
The Jordan Farms brand supplies healthy (black, red and brown) and specialty (Basmati and glutinous) rice to supermarkets. Farm Boy, on the other hand, is good rice made accessible to all Pinoy families with its lower price range.
It is actually amazing to realise that there are a lot of other variety of rice that are now available in the market. And for the health conscious, learning and picking the right variant has been even easier. As the experts says it, the darker the color the better.
Some of Sunnywood’s popular rice products includes:
- Harvester’s Dinorado is one of the best dinorado rice in the country. It is locally porduced, naturally aromatic, especially when cooked and is deliciously sticky. It is the local alternative to the famous Japanese rice and is also good for congee, arroz caldo and champorado.
- Harvester’s Thai Jasmine is known for its superior all-around taste and texture, and is ideal for most rice dishes and occasions.
- Harvester’s Sinandomeng is one of the most popular items in Harvester’s line-up of rice, this is the everyday, any-occasion for the Filipino family.
- Jordan Farms Black Rice is among the line-up of healthy, unpolished rice. This naturally grown black rice contains antioxidants than the other varieties. It is also a good source of fiber, multivitamin B, essential oils, minerals, iron, among others.
At the event, we were able to try the different rice creations in a 5-course meal. All of it incorporating different variants of rice. It is actually good to know that chefs are becoming more creative in creating more dishes incorporating rice, hopefully in the near future, this can be easily adapted by Moms for home cooking.
Celebrity Chef couple Jackie and Rolando Laudico was also present at the event who showed us a few dishes we can actually re-create using Sunnywood’s rice variants.
