Rice is the staple food of most of the world’s population mainly of Africa and Asia. Among the Asian countries, India has the largest consumption of rice as staple food. From North to South and from West to East all of our states have rice on our plates for most of our meals.
India produces around 116.42 million metric tons of rice every year, which makes our country the second most rice producing countries. However, India tops the world rank for producing almost more than 50,000 varieties of rice species, the most popular is our basmati rice (long, aromatic grain of rice mostly used for special delicacies).
But India is home to many more special varieties of rice like the unpolished red rice and semi polished brown rice; every local area has its own local species of rice and have some or the medicinal properties. Not believable right? Here’s the answer:
The young generation are more into fitness and diets and therefore believe that rice are rich in carbohydrates and therefore must be excluded from their food menus. Only if people knew about what are the species that are grown in our country and what are its benefits.
Here are some of the local varieties and the health benefits that we should know about:
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Indrayani Rice: Organic Indrayani Rice rich in fragrance is a delicacy in India and the rice is grown in Mulshi Taluka (Maharashtra). This variety of rice is known for its stickiness and is ideally consumed with Dal or Buttermilk or as Kichdi. The fragrance of this rice is one of the best you can find among rice varieties. The rice is long and broad in structure. Indrayani rice is naturally mild flavoured and suits most digestive systems. Indrayani rice is very popular amongst the people residing in the state of Maharashtra. Medicinal or health benefits: the rice variety is rich in antioxidants, fibre and also is good for maintaining the blood pressure.
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Raja mudi: this red rice variety has gained much popularity among the urban areas mostly in the southern parts of our nation. This rice variety was the Mysore Maharaja’s favourites. The rice variety is mostly used in preparing food like sweet pongal, biryani and many other fermented food preparation like idli, dosa etc. The demand has doubled the price of this rice variety. Farmers have been growing this variety because of its taste and flavour, mostly in the regions of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. This rice variety is used for making Medicinal or health benefits: this variety is said to be good for weight loss and are also suggested for diabetic patients.
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Navara medicinal: Another most in demand red rice variety which has been proved to have medicinal properties has made it to the headlines for all the fitness and health issues. This variety is mostly produced in the state of Kerala. This rice is mostly a boiled rice variety and has several benefits one of them being the medicinal value of the crop. However the production of this variety is scarce in the nation for the time being. Medicinal or health benefits: This variety has always been known for being a great weight build up food option, also a great confirmed option for all the diabetic people. The starch of this rice is used as a hair fall remedy too.
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Keral thondi: This red rice variety is mainly grown in the northern regions of Kerala and has its roots to Wayanad district. Keral thondi rice variety takes longer time to cook due to its high bran content. Mostly known for its fragrance, this variety is known for making Paisam and risotto. Medicinal or health benefits: this rice variety has a low glycemic index and has 60% bran content.
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Raktashali: This particular red rice variety has almost gone to extinct in our nation. It is known to have the highest amount of medicinal properties all mentioned in the Ayurveda books. As known from the ancient literature this rice variety date backs to almost 3000 years and has also known to be used for slow ageing. However, this property of the rice is still to be proved scientifically. It is also known with many other names like Red Sali, Chennellu etc. Medicinal or health benefits: this rice variety was known to have high amount of antioxidants and several other minerals. As per the ayurvedic practitioners this rice variety has the ability to cure all the ailments regarding the human body caused due to imbalance.
Several other local rice varieties, be it white, red or brown has gained a lot of popularity and therefore created a need to fulfil the demand in the market. Young farmers and entrepreneurs can take up ideas and can actually save the paddy growing farmers from suicides, by giving them the opportunity to grow these local varieties in bulk.
Men of the farmers who belong to the rural areas don’t have the idea of the trends going in the urban areas and hence they remain unaware of the benefits too. Let us go Vocal for Local in actual terms and help these important benefits be highlighted to the farmers too.
