Good information Red Rat. Thanks for the post. I guess even though humidity was near or 100% in the salt shaker the rice was less absorbent than the salt so never got soft. I have soaked good aged basmathi rice over night and it still does not go to mush. Other sticky rices might act different like jasmine. There are many varieties of rice and they will react differently. Shorter fat varieties will absorb more moisture I suspect. What type or rice did you test? You didn't mention the length of time it took for the rice to get soft which would interest me. It also might make a difference based on the age and type of rice. I am just curious if the PH is above 7 does rice absorb moisture faster or even more and if rice has any PH reducing quality about it. It didn't seam to in your test. I will test some in water to see how long it actually takes fully immersed in water at different PH levels using alkaline water without the use of electrolyte though. Excellent information that silica gel is the best of what you tested and something Bio is testing too. I wonder if you can add some boric acid to the silica? Great information thanks again.