rice and honey

The Stash has lost some more members. The organic yellow mustard is empty, sugar is gone, mayonnaise jar is storing rubber bands and the ketchup is slipping fast. I find that I am adapting easily and really noticing how much of a crutch condiments can be with various meals. Instead of mayo and mustard on a sandwich, I just add extra tomato and peppers to make the chewing not so dry. That said, some things need to have replacements, one of those things being breakfast cereal.

My Arrowhead Mills organic four grain hot cereal ran out a few days ago. This cereal has been a staple in my diet for over a year and a half. Consisting of steel cut oats, flax seeds, whole cracked wheat, whole rye and barley grits, this cereal was filling and helped to get my digestive system geared up for the day. Every morning before work I would have a bowl of the four grain with some maple syrup and oat milk. The maple syrup ran out weeks ago, so I have been using honey. I still have a few containers of oat milk, which I now mostly use for cooking.

When the box of four grain was half full, I started exploring my options. For my location, an obvious choice was rice. I focused my attention there and found two places I could buy from, both out of range, but both sustainable in many ways and supportive of heirloom plants and conscious of their carbon footprint. Both deserve support, and I plan to do so.

The first source, Carolina Plantation, is located just over 100 miles away in Darlington, South Carolina. They grow heirloom Carolina Gold rice, a grain first grown in the South Carolina low country in 1685. They also grow aromatic white and brown rice as well as cowpeas and corn for grits. Carolina Plantation is also South Carolina’s first to use Green-e-Certified Renewable Energy.

The second source is Anson Mills, based in Columbia, SC. Anson Mills is well out of range, but important to support on many levels. They buy North and South Carolina grains primarily, mill to order, and are certified organic. They deal with heirloom grains such as Carolina Gold and Forbidden Black rice. They also provide grains with minimal polishing, as well as whole grain wheat and graham flours.

I ended up ordering products from both places. Yesterday my box of Carolina Gold rice from Carolina Plantation arrived in the mail. I ordered it two weeks ago as I dipped below a crucial level of The Stash’s four grain. I expected the rice to come in a few days. Somehow my order became screwed up and the shipment delayed for a week and a half. For my trouble and my patience, the shipper threw in a free pound of aromatic white rice.

My Anson Mills package came today – several pounds of Forbidden Black rice, Carolina Gold grits (broken pieces of rice from the milling process) and 15 pounds of whole wheat biscuit flour. I stuffed the rice in the fridge and came to the conclusion that I may have ordered a bit too much.

This morning I ate rice and honey for breakfast. The Carolina Gold rice is unlike any rice I have eaten in the past. The smell is kind of sweet and the taste is creamy, sort of like special risotto rice. The honey was all the sweetness it needed. I was hesitant about eating the rice sweet instead of the usual savory, but all in all, the whole new breakfast paradigm is just fine with me.

While the oat milk holds out, I plan to start making rice pudding several nights a week and eating that for breakfasts as well. With the addition of eggs and the oat milk, it might make a more sustaining breakfast. With the bounty of rice now on hand I can also start to experiment with rice breads, rice ferments and rice milk. Recipes for the experiments are on the way…