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Comment by pphysch | Hacker News Reader

I assume basmati is omitted because it is a higher margin crop sold mainly to wealthy Western countries?

Yes and mostly no. Its definitely a costlier rice but not unaffordable. My dad grow rice and he doesnt prefer the taste of basmati. Basmati is softer and longer but not as sweet as his favorite "sharbati" or IR24. It tastes bland with vegetables and curries. It has aroma but no flavor. Most farmers dont prefer basmati for daily usage even when they grow it. Also,per acre, basmati has not significant advantage over other varieties which can grow upto 2x basmati.

I live in city and now I prefer basmati because its less sweeter and softer. Weight gain has been a concern for me (not to my dad, he likes doing labor). Basmati also doesnt fit well with many traditional dishes, except for biryani I guess.

Cashew has become unaffordable locally because of high export demand. I find is mildly irritating. On the other hand, I earn quite well because of service export.

Fascinating, thanks for the info!

This is so true!

There's many different varieties of rice. The various regions of India use different varieites based on the type of food they cook.

I found this site that describes it if anyone's interested: https://sproutmonk.com/types-of-rice-in-india/

There's an insane amount of rice varieties in India.

There are an insane amount of rice varieties everywhere.

There's an insane amount of everything varieties, you just don't often get much (or at least not explicit) choice at the point of purchase.

Potatoes are the biggest exception I can think of in the UK. Largely grown here! Could believe it's similar for retail rice in India for similar reasons. (That doesn't work for say wheat flour though. A lot grown here, but best you can do is pick your protein %. I'm also not sure if you should care about more than that though - milling aside.)

At which point of sale? If you mean in some chain grocery store then I would agree with you, but if you go to any local rice merchant they have tons of varieties.

Well what I mean is that a lot of people don't have a 'local rice merchant' or aren't going there - so it's not 'often' much of a choice, i.e. across all points of sale.

I'm not talking about just India (nor just rice) if that's the confusion - I don't know where I'd personally go for a choice of basmati cultivars, but there's probably things (potatoes?) I have more choice of in the UK than there generally is in India.

Ah thanks for clarifying

Most Americans do not have access to local rice merchants.

The special thing about this is that creating new rice cultivars are difficult. Indian farmers specifically discovered and developed techniques to prevent self-pollination and encourage cross-pollination. This allowed for an explosion of rice varietals.

In other words the special part here, along with the quantity, is that the process was deliberate and encouraged. There are like 110,000 identified cultivars of rice in India. There are special harvest festivals that specifically encourage the discovery of new rice varietals which are then shared in these festivals.

That's awesome. I'll definitely be looking out for something interesting sounding/local or just different to try or bring back next time.

I like making Kichdi once in a while and Basmati is awful for this dish. I have discovered the japanese Sushi rice takes my khichdi so much more wonderful. It is not good for the waistline but it is an indulgence for whenever I get sick.

Ha, it's so funny to me khichdi is a sick dish - I thought that was just my fiancée's family at first. She made some for me which I kept eating in good health, but she couldn't/wouldn't eat it herself, put off by that association.

The British kedgeree (which has its origin in khichdi but frankly is quite different - like a breakfast biryani of smoked haddock & boiled egg; generally no daal) doesn't at all share that.

Yeah, I think Khichri for sick is at least north Indian thing if not all Indian. In southern parts they make fancier khichri like pongal and stuff.

Also we used to cook Tehri/Tahari vegetables/ rice(non-basmati), heavy spices in pressure cooker. Though nowadays Biryani/Pulao has taken prominence.

That is unfortunate about cashews, but I'm jealous to read of the choice of rice varieties - it's a funny world!

In the UK I think I'd have a hard time getting anything other than generic 'basmati' (which afaict just means Oryza sativa indica - it could be IR24, what you're calling basmati, anything else in the subspecies, or some blend with the yield & shelf-life & availability properties they wanted) that would be at all suitable for (my attempt at/interpretation of) 'Indian' food.

Whatever it is I suppose I subconsciously agree it's bland - I tend to cook it with some rai/jeera/ilaayachi/laung depending.

(Edit -) It just occurred to me that the cashew issue is probably not helped that they're hardly cheap here, largely eaten as a snack (roasted & salted) on their own - which supports a higher price, I suppose, than more common use as more of an ingredient (e.g. kaju katri, ground up in creamy dishes) in India.

> In the UK I think I'd have a hard time getting anything other than generic 'basmati'

It’s relatively easy to find any kind of rice in countries with significant East Asian diaspora like England provided you are ready to buy largish quantity (10kg). It’s highly likely there is an Asian market near you with a surprisingly large selection of rices (not necessarily on display) and which can get you other kinds if you order. It definitely is more involved than going to Tesco but far from impossible.

I do buy in 5-10kg bags (but admittedly takes me much longer to work through than it would an East Asian family) I've just never seen it specify a variety. Just different brands of 'basmati' (which as I said I think is used more generically here than it is up thread).

TIL that not only are there different kinds of rice, but people use certain types of rice with certain dishes. I just thought that rice is rice.

There are even different ways to cook the same rice for use with different dishes. Sometimes you want sticky, sometimes you want mushy, sometimes you want the grains to stay individual, sometimes you want them to have a little bite…

LPT if you’ve tried making fried rice at home, and it sucked, try medium grain. If you tried making sushi and it sucked try short grain.

Lol. Yesterday, I was making fun of my friend. He likes drinking and like to talk about various kind of drinks. I don't drink and wanted to change the topic: "alcohol is just alcohol!". He rolled his eyes.

Basmati rice has generally lower arsenic content than the other rice types, at least those they sell here. That's the main reason I buy it, not really for the taste.

If you are concerned about arsenic in rice, then you should just wash your rice. It's quite effective

The article says basmati accounts for 1/4th of the exports, yes it’s a higher yield crop, but basmati is consumed at a much much lower rate than let’s say sona masoori (at least in the south)

Yes and No.

There are many varieties of Rice and Basmati is just one of them. In India it is used only for special dishes like Biryani/Pulao/etc. and not as a all purpose everyday use Rice. And it is also a higher margin crop well-suited for exports.

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