Carolina Gold Rice Could Be Ticket to Longer Life
It’s a well-known myth that rice, while substantial, can’t aid with prolonging life. However, Carolina gold rice that has been a staple of South Carolina’s low county for hundreds of years defies this myth, and it is suggested that this type of rice can be a ticket to a longer life and a healthier diet.
This gold rice, which has a centuries-old heritage in South Carolina’s low county, contains nutrients that can potentially make it a must-have for healthy meals.
“My ancestors, it was all harvest by hand. “It will get you a little emotional when you get to thinking about what was going on in these fields in the days.” Rollen Chalmers, a lifetime low country farmer who harvests Carolina Gold rice, remarked on TODAY.
The rice variety is a staple of the Gullah Geechee, which are descendants of enslaved people kidnapped from West Africa’s rice-growing area. According to Chalmers, they didn’t have anything but what they knew about producing rice and they truly knew how to grow this crop in the Carolina fields.
The Carolina Gold Rice
Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Explorer and best-selling author, discusses this rice variety in his new book, “The Blue Zones Challenge: A 4-Week Plan for a Longer, Better Life”. In this book, he investigates the “Blue Zones” throughout the world where people live a decade longer and healthier than the rest of the American populace.
Carolina Gold Rice is an African type of rice that was nearly extinct until roughly 20 years ago, Buettner had explained on TODAY. According to him, the rice variety is a distinctively American crop, solely because that strain is no longer available in Africa. Obtaining the strain will require traveling to the Carolinas.
Is Carolina Gold Rice a Superfood?
Buettner’s results from the “Blue Zones” of what has helped people live longer and healthier lives are compatible with the special rice.
According to Buettner, it’s probably not the best decision if you’re eating a bowl of white rice. He states that Carolina Gold rice is distinct. “It’s a different species than Asian rice. It has a little gold tint to it, a nuttier flavor, and it typically has some germ left in it, which is where a lot of the nutrients are.”
There aren’t any superfoods, he continued. “There’s not any magical pill or supplement you’re going to take. They were essentially eating whole food, plant-based. The key to a healthy America is giving them delicious, plant-based recipes that they can cook and they can afford.”
One such healthy example of these recipes is a Hoppin’ John using Carolina Gold rice, a typical Southern meal that combines the nutty flavor of the rice with Sea Island red peas. The traditional meal is usually served on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to bring good fortune in the next year.
Carolina Gold rice defies the normal assumption that eating too much rice in one’s diet isn’t ideal because of the high carbohydrate content. For years, Chalmers has been preaching the benefits of Carolina Gold rice and expresses his love of sharing his expertise regarding this rice variety.
