Basmati

Basmati (pronounced IPA: [baːsmət̪iː] in South Asia) is a variety of long, slender grain aromatic rice which is traditionally from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. As of 2014, India supplies 65 percent of the overseas basmati rice market, while Pakistan accounts for the rest, according to the state-run Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority.

History and etymology

"Basmati" derives from the Sanskrit word बासमती vasmati, meaning "fragrant". Basmati rice is believed to have been cultivated in the Indian Subcontinent for centuries. The earliest extant work to mention the basmati rice is Heer Ranjha (1766).

Basmati was introduced to the Middle East by Indian traders. Through cultural exchange, it remains not only an important part of various Indian/Pakistani cuisines, but now is also used extensively in Persian, Arabic, and other Middle Eastern cuisines, as well. India and Pakistan are the exclusive growers and exporters of this type of rice.

Production and cultivation

Rice

Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa (Asian rice) or Oryza glaberrima (African rice). As a cereal grain, it is the most widely consumed staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in Asia. It is the agricultural commodity with the third-highest worldwide production, after sugarcane and maize, according to 2012 FAOSTAT data.

Since a large portion of maize crops are grown for purposes other than human consumption, rice is the most important grain with regard to human nutrition and caloric intake, providing more than one-fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans.

Wild rice, from which the crop was developed, may have its native range in Australia. Chinese legends attribute the domestication of rice to Shennong, the legendary emperor of China and inventor of Chinese agriculture. Genetic evidence has shown that rice originates from a single domestication 8,200–13,500 years ago in the Pearl River valley region of China. Previously, archaeological evidence had suggested that rice was domesticated in the Yangtze River valley region in China.