Rice bran

[Cottonball McFluffy]

I'm curious, how many of you use rice bran in food. Have you noticed benefits or drawbacks? I don't suppose it's tecnically raw, is it?
On the same note: do you use coconut cream or milk and if you do, do you use store bought or make your own?

[sport]

I would think that any bran would be used to boost your fibre intake and we should have no need for that.
I have read that bran (but I think that they were discussing wheat bran) has jagged edges and aggravates the digestive system.

[Cottonball McFluffy]

I was just reading some local raw food blogs and noticed some mentions of it. The other ingredient that was mentioned often in their recipes was lechitin. Now, I basically know what lechitin is and what purpose it might serve in a raw ice cream recipe (though I was a bit surprised that people would use it) but the rice bran was new to me. So I thought I might ask if this is something other people who've been on raw longer than I have use frequently. The blog that was praising it had a picture of a bag of the stuff and it looked very flour like, maybe a bit coarser. The person was adding it to most recipes in the way others use lechitin, to firm up the texture. They were also praising it's vitamin E content.
There's not much on it online, and nothing I'd call unbiased, but this is copy+pasted from one manufacture's site on rice bran:

# More than 100 Antioxidants & Co-factors
# Vitamin E Complex with complete Tocotrienol & Tocopherol profile
# Naturally rich in B Vitamins
# IP6 and Inositol
# Gamma Oryzanol and Phytosterols
# Rich in Essential Fatty Acids
# Complete and Balanced Amino Acid Profile
# Hypoallergenic protein

[sport]

I have noticed the use of lechitin as well and so much so that early on in my raw journey I purchased some but hated everything about it so ended up trowing it out.

[Tenuviel]

I have used rice bran in the past, and it is very finely ground, almost flour like but slightly gritty. The first time I ate it was before I went to work, and 5 minutes later I had a beet red niacin flush all over! I felt really sunburned for about 20 minutes... it has a lot of B vitamins. Haven't used it since going raw though... as sport said, already get so much fiber :)

[SevenKindsOfCookie]

I have noticed the use of lechitin as well and so much so that early on in my raw journey I purchased some but hated everything about it so ended up trowing it out.

I have tried soy based granulates I bought once was really awful. I have tried others that was of much better quality. I haven't tried the raw sunflower lecithin yet but I'm going to buy a jar tomorrow. It's supposed to be pretty good.

Lecithin is really important for brain development. So if you are raising children on high raw, you should certainly supplement with that because it's hard to get enough without including eggs.
It's really important for adults as well though, so it's a good supplement as well as a great tool for emulsifying fats in desserts and such. Just get the high quality stuff.

[maria84]

what are you using the rice bran for? to thicken?

if that's the case, you could use psyllium husks or mila. you could also use sunflower lechitin as sevenkinds mentioned.

i'm actually anxious to try the sunflower lechitin myself. it's supposed to taste really good and it contains choline which as sevenkinds already mentioned is good for proper brain functioning. :)