Rice, Pulses & Other Grains
The first cereal grains were domesticated about 12,000 years ago in the “Fertile Crescent” (Western Asia) wheat and barley being the first 2 to be developed.
Rice is widely perceived to have fed more humans than any other grain in history. Its cultivation has been traced back many years before the first sign of any civilized culture, around 1500 B.C. No mention of rice can be found in the history of the Western Hemisphere prior to the arrival of the Europeans in the 15th century. Its existence in North America was first recorded in 1685.
Today there are six coloured rices ranging in hue from red to black and purple. There are four main varieties of short- and medium-grain rices and three varieties of long rice (amongst other varieties like brown or wild pecan rice)
