What was carolina gold

However, so wealthy did it make the early planters of the lowcountry, it could also refer to its financial importance. By the early s rice had become the major crop in the colony, with some 6 million pounds shipped to England annually.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, more than 75, acres of land were producing rice in the lowcountry, yielding million pounds. By seventy percent of the 5 million bushels produced in America were being grown in South Carolina. Plantation owners demanded slaves from the West Coast of Africa, where wetland rice farming was common. From seed to table, Carolina gold was the domain of the enslaved. South Carolina was renowned for its rice kitchens with elaborate Creole dishes prepared by accomplished African cooks.

It arrived in a yellow cloth bag, impervious to the light damage Roberts says is detrimental to rice's flavor. At first, I tried it plain and simple, preparing it in my rice cooker on a weekday afternoon.

As I sat at my kitchen table waiting for it to finish, I could already tell it was different based on the smell alone. Unlike grocery store rice, which just smells starchy, the Carolina Gold filled the room with a nutty, earthy aroma that had me craving white rice more than I've ever craved it before.

Biting into my first spoonful, I could feel the firm texture of each and every grain in my mouth. It had the satisfying bite Shields told me about, the nuttiness, even a floral quality I hadn't quite expected.

Yes, it was exactly what I wanted rice to taste like. Later that night, I cooked more of the rice into a simple purloo of shrimp, bacon, and crushed tomatoes. And, while the shrimp was fresh, the tomatoes juicy, the bacon bacon-y, it was the rice that stole the show. Eating the purloo at my dining room table, I remembered something Sarah Simmons had told me when I talked to her about Carolina Gold.

A part of me dies every time I see my parents use the grocery store stuff. I'm as spoiled as spoiled can be. And, as far as rice is concerned, I've found my new gold standard.

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More Serious Eats Recipes. The Carolina Gold Rice Foundation began with the singular mission of advancing the sustainable restoration of Carolina Gold Rice, and in that it has succeeded wildly, bringing together farmers, scholars, researchers, and historians to ensure that Carolina Gold and the newer hybrid Charleston Gold remain viable crops.

The foundation has served as a proselytizing resource, educating the world about the history and significance of this historical crop and helping put it back on dinner plates around the world.

Ten thousand pounds of Carolina Gold was harvested at Turnbridge Plantation in October, the first such harvest in 60 years. The rice is now making its way to the tables of those quick enough to order it. The renaissance of Carolina Gold came about through the efforts of Dr. Read full article. Twice a day the water rose, seawater pulled by the moon, pulsing up the Savannah River, flooding the marshes between Tybee and Daufuskie islands, flooding the marshes along the Wright River that flows like a kinked-up scuppernong vine through the Lowcountry.

These are big tides in southern South Carolina, nine-foot tides when the moon is right, and the rising seas pushed a wedge of fresh water far up the river. The water poured through hollow logs laid in the slave-built dikes along the Wright. Then inch by inch, the floodgates were closed, and the water deepened. By early autumn, it filled the impoundments and held up the rice stems, nodding with their heavy heads of grain.