Thailand has a strong tradition of rice production. It has the fifth-largest amount of land under rice cultivation in the world and is the worlds second largest exporter of rice. Thailand has plans to further increase its land available for rice production, with a goal of adding 500,000 hectares to its already 9.2 million hectares of rice-growing areas. The Thai Ministry of Agriculture expects rice production to yield around 30 million tons of rice for 2008. The most produced strain of rice in Thailand is jasmine rice, which is a higher quality type of rice. However, jasmine has a significantly lower yield rate than other types of rice, but it also normally fetches more than double the price of other strains in a global market. Steamed rice is traditionally prepared in one of two ways. Actual steaming is done by placing a bowl or pot containing dry rice, along with some water that will be absorbed, into a food steamer, and cooking it until done. Steamed rice is normally cooked by adding dry rice and a small amount of salt to water and boiling it in a covered pot. Today, most rice is prepared in electric rice cookers, that work the same way. During cooking, the rice absorbs the water, increasing in volume and mass. The rice is considered cooked when it has absorbed all the water.
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