ALL ABOUT RICE

Delicious Kernels of Rice History

• Rice is known to have been part of the human diet as far back as 8,000 BC – long before recorded history.
   
• As far back as 2,800 BC, stories including rice can be found in the Eastern Hemisphere, from China to ancient Greece, Persia to the Nile Delta.
   
• The history of rice in North America began with the colonization of the New World, specifically the Carolinas.
• In 1696, a better rice variety imported from Madagascar helped create a thriving rice industry.
   
• When America gained its independence, rice was one of the country’s major agricultural businesses, and was exported all over the world.
   
• By the turn of the 20th century, rice was being grown in the south – Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas.
   
• The 1849 discovery of gold in California brought more than people to the then U.S. Territory. California’s first commercial crop of short grain rice was produced in 1912, and it’s been a major rice-producing area since.

Rice Consumption

Rice is enjoyed all over the United States, but is most popular on the coasts and in the south. Americans’ favorite varieties of rice are long grain, medium grain and short grain. Rice sells well all year around, but best September through April. The shelf life of rice is 12 months.