Erich Gustav Huzenlaub (27 October 1888 – 12 September 1964) was a German-British

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

. He invented the Huzenlaub process for

parboiling Parboiling (or leaching) is the partial or semi boiling of food as the first step in cooking. The word is from the Old French 'parboillir' (to boil thoroughly) but by mistaken association with 'part' it has acquired its current meaning. The wo ...

rice.

Life

Huzenlaub studied chemistry in Germany, served in the German military, and emigrated to London where he became a British citizen. He traveled the world pursuing various enterprises, chief among these included the invention of numerous food improvement processes.Google Patents Database for Erich Huzenlaub https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Huzenlaub+Erich+Gustav While in London, Huzenlaub founded the company ''Converted Rice, Ltd.'' where a form of parboiling rice designed to retain more of the nutrients in rice was invented, now known as the Huzenlaub Process. The process consisted first in

vacuum drying Vacuum drying is the mass transfer operation in which the moisture present in a substance, usually a wet solid, is removed by means of creating a vacuum. In chemical processing industries like food processing, pharmacology, agriculture, and texti ...

the whole grain, then

steaming Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American southwest, steam pits used for cooking ha ...

, and finally vacuum drying and husking.British Patents 519,926 (10 April 1940) and 522,353 (17 June 1940); U.S. Patents 2,239608 (22 April 1941), 2,287,737 (20 December 1941), 2,287,737 (23 June 1942), cited in Kik and Williams Besides increasing rice's nutritional value, it also made it resistant to

weevil Weevils are beetles belonging to the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and Herbivore, herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They b ...

s and reduced cooking time. Together with

Forrest Mars, Sr Forrest may refer to: Places Australia *Forrest, Australian Capital Territory *Forrest, Victoria, a small rural township * Division of Forrest, a federal division of the Australian House of Representatives, in Western Australia *Electoral distri ...

. they began two companies, "Rice Converted, Inc." and "Mars and Huzenlaub" in the United States. Huzenlaub visited a number of rice millers in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi in the early to mid-1940s. They financed and built up a plant for parboiled rice in Houston, Texas. Rice Converted, Inc's sole client was the US military which needed Converted Rice, Inc's rice to airdrop to troops throughout World War II as it was resistant to infestation. Once the war ended, Rice Converted, Inc. rebranded as "Uncle Ben's Converted Rice," the first branded rice of its time.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huzenlaub, Erich 20th-century German chemists 20th-century German inventors 1888 births 1964 deaths Scientists from Stuttgart German emigrants to the United Kingdom People from Houston