Chalk is the opaque area in the rice grain and is undesirable in almost every market. Chalky areas occur because of malformed starch granules with air spaces between them. Chalky areas cook differently from translucent areas, but only a very clever palate could detect the difference. There are small differences in the solubility of the starch and the gelatinization temperature of the chalky and translucent areas, but research has yet to discover