Also known as semi-boil, this refers to the process where a food is partially cooked via a boil. At its most basic, a food is cooked only part of the way by boiling it. The food is then prepared further and cooked the rest of the way using some other method. If you are wondering how this might be any different from blanching, the main difference (aside from the continued cooking process) is that the food being parboiled is not placed into an ice bath upon being taken out.

There are a few reasons why you might go with a parboil. It can soften the texture of the vegetable without overcooking it. Likewise, it can speed up a cooking process that might take a lot longer, such as just about any preparation of potatoes.

Other benefits include the denaturing or deactivation of certain poisons when parboiling a food. In a similar vein, it has been found that parboiling rice can have a significant effect on the amount of certain metals present in rice. These metals, such as aluminum, nickel, chromium, and more. If you are concerned with arsenic, then you should make sure that the rice is de-husked first before starting a parboil. Not only will this reduce the level of arsenic than what might otherwise be present, it can do the same thing for cadmium as well.