Delicious, nutritious and nutty, Low Country heirloom Carolina Gold rice has been revived and is again for sale

South Carolina's St. Helena Island offers a glimpse into our country's
crop heritage. (Photo by David McLain, National Geographic)

Ingredients for dishes like smoky collards and New Year's favorite Hoppin’ John were introduced to American tables by enslaved Africans. The West African diet has "a long tradition of eating plant-based whole foods—so-called blue-zones-type foods—has been handed down from generation to generation," reports Dan Buettner of National Geographic. "The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of enslaved West Africans captured in places such as Senegal and Angola and brought to the Low Country of South Carolina and Georgia to cultivate Carolina Gold rice."

Carolina Gold is "a unique heirloom grain. A West African strain, it was first grown, cultivated, and cooked on American soil by enslaved peoples on plantations," Buettner writes. "In the 19th century, it became the dominant rice in the U.S. market, only to all but completely disappear after the Great Depression. Though you couldn’t find it on grocery store shelves for decades, it was legendary in the Low Country for its unique starchiness and earthy, nutty flavor."

BJ Dennis, a South Carolina chef, told Buettner he was on a mission to bring back the cuisine of his rice-growing ancestors. “We took the rustic soul of the Africans and the Native American techniques and made this special mash-up,” Dennis told Buettner. "The resulting cuisine is uniquely American, explosively delicious, and as I’ve been discovering, it draws from ingredients that support longevity."

In Savannah, Georgia, Buettner met "Roosevelt Brownlee, a 75-year-old dreadlocked Gullah chef who has cooked for the likes of Stan Getz and Nina Simone," Buettner reports. "In a backwoods kitchen, he and his cousin Rollen Chalmers whip up 'pink-eyed soup,' hoecakes and red peas—all accompanied by Carolina Gold cracked rice. As his T-shirt proclaims, 'Rice Is Life.'"

Thanks to the efforts of people Dennis and Chalmers, Buettner writes, "You can now find Carolina Gold rice again on grocery store shelves and online."