Camargue red rice is a variety of

red rice Red rice is a variety of rice that is colored red by its anthocyanin content. It is usually eaten unpolished or partially polished, and has a red bran layer, rather than the more common pale brown. Red rice has a nutty flavor. It has the highe ...

cultivated in the

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

s of the

Camargue Camargue (, also , , ; oc, label= Provençal, Camarga) is a region of France located south of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône delta. The eastern arm is called the ''Grand Rhône''; the western one is the '' ...

region of southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

.Steven Fallon, Michael Rothschild, ''France'', Lonely Planet, 2000, p. 3

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History

Red

wild rice Wild rice, also called manoomin, Canada rice, Indian rice, or water oats, is any of four species of grasses that form the genus ''Zizania'', and the grain that can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both ...

had traditionally grown in the marshes of the Camargue. Shortly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

vast swaths of

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

es were desalinated. To boost the local economy, the previous production of salt was replaced by agriculture. Production of white rice was at its peak in the 1960s. By the 1980s this white rice had cross-pollinated with red wild rice, giving birth to the current breed of Camargue red rice.Rachel Bridge, ''My Big Idea: 30 Successful Entrepreneurs Reveal How They Found Inspiration'', Kogan Page Publishers, 2010, p. 18

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Description

Once the husk is removed, the

bran Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the hard outer layers of cereal grain. It consists of the combined aleurone and pericarp. Corn (maize) bran also includes the pedicel (tip cap). Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, ...

is a brownish-red colour.Zoë Harpham, ''The Essential Rice Cookbook'', Allen & Unwin, 2004, p. 1

/ref> It has an intense somewhat nutty taste and a naturally chewy texture.

References

Rice varieties Camargue {{ingredient-stub