Aim is to create a White Paper on Patna Rice using collobrative efforts of members of Patna Rice yahoo group.

What is Patna Rice?

Patna rice, a variety of the species Oryza sativa. It is a long-grain white rice with a mild flavour which does not loose its shape on cooking. Ideally suited for the western style of cooking.

It is extensively cultivated in the Indo-gangetic plains in and around Patna, capital of Bihar state, India. Patna rice is known for its elongated kernel with grain length greater than 6 mm, and has been used as staple food by the local people for thousands of years. Sometimes, Patna rice is also called Parimal rice locally. Other esteemed strains of the Patna rice are Katarni, Kamod, Rani Kajal and Badshah Bhog.

This mildly flavoured rice comes from the Bihar region of the Gangegetic plains. It has a robust, long and narrow, opaque grain that keeps its shape well for curries. Basmati rice is closely related to the Patna rice but has a stronger aroma.

Botanical.com describes Patna rice as “------ the most esteemed in England and the United States. ----------- has a long and narrow grain that keeps its shape well for curries”

Website : http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/r/rice--15.html

Written reference to rice cultivated in the Patna region can be traced to the days of Gautam Budhdha himself. At that time itself, rice is said to have been classified into good and bad quality.

There is reference to the rice from the region in the travelogue of Hiuen Tsang, the seventh century Chinese traveller to India. He spent considerable time at Nalanda. He was served a strain of Patna rice called Mahasali rice. He describes it as “grain was as large as a bean, and when cooked, was aromatic, and shining like no other rice”

Source: http://www.indiasite.com/bihar/nalanda.html

The Mughal chronicler Abul Fazal who collected the various types of rice grown in the Gangetic belt has described the rice cultivated in Patna in glowing terms. He collected various strains of rice grown around Patna and reported that even if one grain of each strain was taken, it would fill a large vase.

William Fullarton of Skeldon UK made his fortune by dealing in Patna rice. He chose to name the hamlet of the coal mining workers he built in East Ayrshire, Scotland as Patna.

Patna, Scotland

As at one time, most of the rice sold in Europe came from this region, Patna Rice is also sometimes loosely used to mean any long grain aromatic rice.

Some people erroenously believe that Patna rice was cultivated in America in Carolina. Carolina rice in its pure form is not a long grain rice (needs confirmation), but is a medium grain rice first cultivated from the strain brought from Madagascar. Carolina Rice was exported to Britain before the American civil war. Thus the term Carolina rice is also sometimes erroneously used to denote this variety of rice.

Long Grain rice was first patented in US in 1942 in Texas as Patna. It is not clear where this seed was brought from and whether it was aromatic or not. (we need to find out)