carolina Gold rice?

i want to try some. my fingers hovers over the "buy it now" button and it stalls every time.

very expensive. and as a chinese person, it feels wrong to pay that much for a side dish. hahha. i can buy 100lbs of "three ladies" rice for the same $.

it is worth the try? or wait until i vacation down there and load up my luggage?

(i kinda want to try some while lily flour biscuits as well )

Sad the rice is monopolized in the US. I've never had it myself but would like to too.

Mucho Bocho said:

Sad the rice is monopolized in the US. I've never had it myself but would like to too.

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whoa! and you live RIGHT there!

i guess they dont sell it at any high end grocery stores?

They sell it, but it's kinda packaged for tourists or sold at a premium at farmer's market. Even in SC, it's not cheap.

you talking Anson mills carolina gold rice?

Worth a try.

Buy it and try it. It's the only way to find out.

I started buying Spanish Bomba rice for paella. It's expensive as well. Is it better? Yes. Is it worth it? That's up to your taste buds. I use the Bomba for when the kids are home from college, and use Calrose for everyday meals at home.

"chameleon starch properties that allow it to produce fluffy, individual grains; creamy risotto; or sticky Asian-style rice, depending on how it is cooked"

at a price for 2lb that gets me 2lb each of a good genuine basmati, generic arborio, and thai sticky rice

It's good stuff. I personally prefer the Carolina Gold aromatic.....or try the rice grits....

knyfeknerd said:

It's good stuff. I personally prefer the Carolina Gold aromatic.....or try the rice grits....

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If we're getting into a grit talk, try Geechie Boy from Edisto, SC. Great product. Husband and wife team. You order, they stick it in the mail. Also their other stuff like sea island red peas and farro are damn good.

Geechie Boy is awesome and potentially a game-changer in terms of grits if you're used to the bland, powdery stuff. I like Carolina Gold and think it's worth it for hoppin' john and jambalaya, but I see the arguments about its cost and marketing.

i love anson mills farro, what makes the rice better than calrose?

knyfeknerd said:

It's good stuff. I personally prefer the Carolina Gold aromatic.....or try the rice grits....

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Could you check your pm's

panda said:

what makes the rice better than calrose?

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Panda, if you are referring to my post about Bomba rice, it's because Bomba absorbs a lot more broth (and the broth's flavor). When using Calrose, it takes longer to cook down the liquid and the paella comes out softer. With Bomba, I'm actually able to get the rice al dente. I could probably play around with the amount of liquid when using Calrose, but the recipes I have were designed for Spanish rices.

People saying they can't understand buying expensive rice haven't had good rice. Hopefully Mr broida can chime in as I recall he keeps a number of varieties of Japanese rice on hand... Nothing like it and certainly more than merely a "side dish".

@spoiledbroth "expensive"/"worth the price" and "probably hyped" are two different things ...

With basmati, there is a direct advantage to Tilda and more expensive brands vs the off brands (which tend to be inconsistent quality, have debris, have moldy off-scents, or can even be adulterated with non-basmati rice) - here you are comparing good to arguably DEFECTIVE.

The other area where I found "cheap sucks" is whole grain rices, you get stuff that cooks badly and is bitter.

With japanese and thai rices, I found inexpensive doesn't SEEM obviously defective like these - am I just ignorant there?

laxdad said:

Buy it and try it. It's the only way to find out.

I started buying Spanish Bomba rice for paella. It's expensive as well. Is it better? Yes. Is it worth it? That's up to your taste buds. I use the Bomba for when the kids are home from college, and use Calrose for everyday meals at home.

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Bomba is relatively easy to get around here..not paying for shipping makes it easy to swallow.

You won't find many, if any, "defective" Japanese rices in the US as most come from California, and the processors are good about making sure that they're free of defects such as debris, etc. Higher end bags of Japanese rices are even Nitrogen flushed and sold in non-gas permeable bags so they stay fresh for a long time.

That being said, there is a big range in quality from cheap Calrose to varietal rices like Akita Otome, Koshihikari, etc. due to grain size, texture, density, etc.