Brown rice used to be an hour-plus ordeal for me.

That's when I was going through my macrobiotic (vegan minus the fun) stage. Brown rice is the mainstay of the macrobiotic diet, and cooking it involved about 90 minutes of fussing with a pressure cooker and inedible seaweed.

I've relaxed since those days, though I still think brown rice — and whole grains in general — ought to be the backbone of our diet. Health officials have been saying the same thing for some time. But only during the past year or so has the public listened.

Trouble is, most people think whole grains begin and end with whole wheat bread. It's a nice step, but most nutritionists consider it at the bottom of the grain chain.

But other whole grains, such as millet, barley, oats and brown rice, require cooking. And typically far more cooking than their refined cousins (hence whole wheat pasta takes longer than refined flour pasta).

Seeing a market niche, food companies have rolled out numerous near-instant whole grains. But are they any good? To find out, I bought four varieties of quick- or no-cook brown rice and ran them up against rice cooked the traditional way.

That tradition is simple. Combine equal parts brown rice and water with a pinch of salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce to a simmer and cook 25 minutes. Then just turn off the heat and let the rice sit, covered, another 10 minutes.

Total cooking time — about 40 minutes. The result is a flavorful, nutty rice that is tender, but still has texture and a satisfying chew.

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TRYING THE QUICK VARIETIES:

The first two competitors were Kraft's Minute Brand Instant Whole Grain Brown Rice and Uncle Ben's Fast and Natural Whole Grain Instant Brown Rice, both of which boast on the box of taking just 10 minutes.

These products are from the parboiled school, meaning they were partially cooked, then dried. The rice is finished at home on the stovetop by simmering it with water for about 10 minutes. The "about" is key.

Neither lived up to its 10-minute promise. At 10 minutes, the Minute rice was soupy. It took another 10 minutes before the water was absorbed and the rice was fluffy. It took a total of 19 minutes for Uncle Ben's.

In the end, it didn't matter. Neither was edible. Both had a mushy texture and tasted as though they'd been sitting in a bowl of water for about a week. If this is what most Americans think brown rice is, no wonder we have a nutrition crisis.

Next up, another Uncle Ben's product. This one was Ready Rice Whole Grain Brown Rice, which comes fully cooked in a microwavable pouch. It promised to be ready after just 90 seconds of nuking.

That much Uncle Ben's got right. After 1 1/2 minutes the rice was blistering hot. Too bad it also reeked of the plastic bag it was heated in and was just as mushy and tasteless as the other Uncle Ben's product.

The final contender was Success Rice Fully Cooked Brown Rice, which comes in single-serving, microwave-ready cups. This rice promises to be ready in just 1 minute. And it lived up to its name.

Not only that, it even looked like cooked brown rice should — plump individual grains with a nice brown hue. The other products all looked as though they'd been stepped on, coming closer to mashed rice than cooked.

As for taste, it was surprisingly good. It tasted like, well, cooked brown rice. Nutty, a little chewy, fresh.

My only complaint was the fat. The company adds a fair amount of sunflower oil, which contributes 4 1/2 grams of fat (including 1/2 gram saturated) and 40 of the 170 calories per serving. For rice, that's a lot.

Maybe the oil is needed for the processing, but it seems to me they could reduce this. After all, brown rice is supposed to be good for us.

The Success Rice also isn't cheap. It clocks in at $1 per 1-cup serving. The Minute Rice was just 42 cents, while the Uncle Ben's 10 minute version was just 27 cents. Uncle Ben's microwave rice was a pricier 75 cents.

Regular brown rice? Less than 30 cents — and that's for organic bought at a pricey natural foods store.

That said, the Success Rice was a pleasant surprise. It would have shocked me that any instant rice was edible. Never mind that the fastest of the bunch also was the best. Maybe there is hope for whole grains.

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