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]