basmati rice

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Brown basmati rice

Chinese dish cooked in basmati

Basmati (Hindi: बासमती, Kannada: ಭಾಸ್ಮತಿ, Urdu: باسمتی, Telugu: బాస్మతి, Bengali: বাসমতী) is a variety of long grain rice, grown in India and Pakistan notable for its fragrance and delicate, nuanced flavour. Its name means "the fragrant one" in Sanskrit, but it can also mean "the soft rice." India and Pakistan are the largest cultivators and exporters of this rice; it is primarily grown through paddy field farming in the Punjab region.

The grains of basmati rice are longer than most other types of rice. Cooked grains of Basmati rice are characteristically free flowing rather than sticky, as with most long-grain rice. Cooked basmati rice can be uniquely identified by its fragrance. Basmati rice is available in two varieties - white and brown.

Flavour

Basmati rice has a typical pandan-like (Pandanus amaryllifolius leaf) flavour caused by the aroma compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrrolineCite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag. Both voluntarily and due to review decisions by the United States Patent Office, RiceTec has lost most of the claims of the patent, including, most importantly, the right to call their rice lines "basmati." This was a huge victory for Indian farmers who could have faced enormous economic losses from the patent.

Glycemic index

According to the Canadian Diabetes Association, basmati rice has a Medium glycemic index (GI) of between 56 and 69, thus making it more suitable for diabetics as compared to certain other grains and products made from white flour.

See also

• Ambemohar
• Domsiah
• Jasmine rice
• List of rice varieties
• Oryza sativa
• Wehani rice

Footnotes

References

External links

• What is Rice
• FDA import warning
• About patent dispute
• "India and Pakistan link to protect Basmati". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7246900.stm. 

international price of basmati pb 1 pb 1121