| Carolina Gold rice | |
|---|---|
 Enslaved Africans cultivating Carolina gold rice in South Carolina on Snee farm plantation. | |
| Species | Oryza glaberrima (Steud.) |
| Origin | South Carolina Lowcountry and the Sea Islands |
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]
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]
Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans. It originated in the American South from the cuisines of enslaved Africans trafficked to the North American colonies through the Atlantic slave trade during the Antebellum period and is closely associated the cuisine of the American South. The expression "soul food" originated in the mid-1960s when "soul" was a common word used to describe African-American culture. Soul food uses cooking techniques and ingredients from West African, Central African, Western European, and Indigenous cuisine of the Americas.
The cuisine of the Southern United States encompasses diverse food traditions of several subregions, including cuisine of Southeastern Native American tribes, Tidewater, Appalachian, Ozarks, Lowcountry, Cajun, Creole, African American cuisine and Floribbean, Spanish, French, British, and German cuisine. In recent history, elements of Southern cuisine have spread to other parts of the United States, influencing other types of American cuisine.
The Gullah are a subgroup of the African American ethnic group, who predominantly live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida within the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. Their language and culture have preserved a significant influence of Africanisms as a result of their historical geographic isolation and the community's relation to their shared history and identity.
Daufuskie Island, located between Hilton Head Island and Savannah, is the southernmost inhabited sea island in South Carolina. It is 5 miles (8 km) long by almost 2.5 miles (4.0 km) wide – approximate surface area of 8 square miles (21 km2). With over 3 miles (5 km) of beachfront, Daufuskie is surrounded by the waters of Calibogue Sound, the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. It was listed as a census-designated place in the 2020 census with a population of 557.
The Lowcountry is a geographic and cultural region along South Carolina's coast, including the Sea Islands. The region includes significant salt marshes and other coastal waterways, making it an important source of biodiversity in South Carolina.
Hoppin' John, also known as Carolina peas and rice, is a peas and rice dish served in the Southern United States. It is made with cowpeas, mainly, black-eyed peas and Sea Island red peas in the Sea Islands and iron and clay peas in the Southeast US, and rice, chopped onion, and sliced bacon, seasoned with salt. Some recipes use ham hock, fatback, country sausage, or smoked turkey parts instead of bacon. A few use green peppers or vinegar and spices. Smaller than black-eyed peas, field peas are used in the South Carolina Lowcountry and coastal Georgia. Black-eyed peas are the norm elsewhere.
Red rice is rice that is colored red due to natural anthocyanin content. It is usually eaten unpolished or partially polished, and has a red bran layer, rather than the more common pale brown. Red rice has a nutty flavor. It has the highest nutritional value among rices eaten with the bran intact.
Lowcountry cuisine is the cooking traditionally associated with the South Carolina Lowcountry and the Georgia coast. While it shares features with Southern cooking, its geography, economics, demographics, and culture pushed its culinary identity in a different direction from regions above the Fall Line.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens is a historic house with gardens located on the Ashley River at 3550 Ashley River Road west of Ashley, Charleston County, South Carolina. It is one of the oldest plantations in the South, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Magnolia Plantation is located near Charleston and directly across the Ashley River from North Charleston. The house and gardens are open daily; an admission fee is charged.
McLeod Plantation is a former slave plantation located on James Island, South Carolina, near the intersection of Folly and Maybank roads at Wappoo Creek, which flows into the Ashley River. The plantation is considered an important Gullah heritage site, preserved in recognition of its cultural and historical significance to African-American and European-American cultures.
Joseph A. Opala, OR is an American historian noted for establishing the "Gullah Connection," the historical links between the indigenous people of the West African nation of Sierra Leone and the Gullah people of the Low Country region of South Carolina and Georgia in the United States.
The economy of South Carolina was ranked the 25th largest in the United States based on gross domestic product in 2022. Tourism, centered around Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and Hilton Head Island, is the state's largest industry. The state's other major economic sector is advanced manufacturing located primarily in the Upstate and the Lowcountry.
Rice production is the fourth largest among cereals in the United States, after corn, wheat, and sorghum. Of the country's row crop farms, rice farms are the most capital-intensive and have the highest national land rental rate average. In the United States, all rice acreage requires irrigation. In 2000–09, approximately 3.1 million acres in the United States were under rice production; an increase was expected over the next decade, to approximately 3.3 million acres. USA Rice represents rice producers in the six largest rice-producing states of Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas.
Sea Island red pea is an heirloom landrace of cowpea from the Gullah corridor of the Sea Islands. They are an integral part of Gullah cuisine and have been listed on the Ark of Taste.
The 1815 North Carolina hurricane caused the most severe flooding in New Bern, North Carolina since 1795. First detected east of the Lesser Antilles on 26 August, the disturbance drifted toward the northwestern Leeward Islands, arriving by 29 August. The hurricane soon approached Charleston, South Carolina, on 1 September, and subsequently made landfall near Cape Lookout in North Carolina on 3 September. The gale reached New England by 5 September, departing the region on 6 September. The hurricane caused significant impact even before coming ashore: many vessels were damaged, grounded, capsized, or destroyed offshore throughout the course of the storm. Extensive damage to corn, cotton, and rice crops was also noted. Flood waters brought rivers as much as 8 ft (2.4 m) above normal, inundating streets and structures. Overall, the hurricane inflicted at least 15 deaths throughout its existence, and more than $60,000 (1815 USD) in property damage.
The Gullah are African Americans who live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, in both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. They developed a creole language, also called Gullah, and a culture with some African influence.
Marsh Hen Mill is a company on Edisto Island, in the US state of South Carolina, best known for its traditionally manufactured heirloom grits.
Arroz de fríjol cabecita negra is a rice-based dish from the Caribbean Coast of Colombia that utilizes black-eyed peas as the legume, differing from other rice dishes that are usually prepared with different legumes such as beans, peas, lentils, and Pigeon peas.
Benjamin "BJ" Dennis IV is an American Gullah Geechee chef and caterer from Charleston, South Carolina who is known for preserving Gullah Geechee cooking and culture. Additionally, he is also notable for his discovery of hill rice in December 2016 in Trinidad, which was thought to have been extinct.
