Carolina Gold

Carolina Gold rice is a variety of African rice first popularized in South Carolina, USA in the 1780s.[1] It is named for the golden color of its unhulled grains.[2][3]

Carolina Gold rice
Enslaved Africans cultivating Carolina gold rice in South Carolina on Snee farm plantation.
SpeciesOryza glaberrima (Steud.)
OriginSouth Carolina Lowcountry and the Sea Islands

History

Rice was grown in South Carolina (in the South Carolina Lowcountry) by enslaved people, and led to enormous wealth. [3] It was a staple of Lowcountry cuisine, and at the outset of the Civil War, 3.5 million of the 5 million bushels of rice produced in the United States were Carolina Gold rice. Over subsequent decades it declined in popularity until the last commercial crop was harvested in 1927.[4]

In the 1980s, Dr. Richard and Patricia Schulze became interested in the variety while restoring rice ponds on their vacation property in Hardeeville, South Carolina.[4] They found out that a USDA center on rice research in Texas had retained a stock of it in its seed bank. After obtaining and planting 14 pounds, they harvested 64 pounds in the first season. By 1988, they were harvesting 10,000 pounds per year.[5]

Two commercial efforts, Anson Mills and Carolina Plantation Rice, began selling the variety to the general public in 1998, after an effort at Clemson University had bred a disease-resistant strain. While Riviana Foods sells rice under the brand name Carolina Rice, including a parboiled variety called Carolina Gold, these share no connection to the variety of the name.[5]

The Carolina Gold Rice Foundation was created in 2004 to help popularize, restore and preserve the heirloom rice.[6][7] It has since expanded to other heirlooms such as French Huguenot black landrace buckwheat, Sea Island red peas, and others.[8]

See also

References
  1. "America's oldest rice emanates from the time of our revolution in the rice fields around Charleston, South Carolina". Carolina Gold Rice Foundation. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  2. Martin Taylor, John (28 December 1988). "Carolina Gold: A Rare Harvest". New York Times. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  3. Smith, Hayden R. (2019). Carolina's Golden Fields: Inland Rice Cultivation in the South Carolina Lowcountry, 1670–1860. Cambridge Studies on the American South. Cambridge UP. pp. 12–14. ISBN 9781108423403.
  4. Martin Taylor, John (December 28, 1988). "Carolina Gold: A Rare Harvest". New York Times. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  5. "The Story of Carolina Gold, the Best Rice You've Never Tasted". Serious Eats. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
  6. "America's oldest rice emanates from the time of our revolution in the rice fields around Charleston, South Carolina". Carolina Gold Rice Foundation. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  7. Shields, David S. (2015). Southern Provisions: The Creation and Revival of a Cuisine. U of Chicago P. pp. x–xi. ISBN 9780226141114.
  8. Ardis, Susan (2016-08-17). "In Lower Richland fields, Carolina Gold Rice Foundation resurrects crops lost to time". The Herald. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
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