Culinary and health beneficial properties of rice varieties developed for niche markets

Authors: McClung, Anna; Chen, Ming Hsuan; Beaulieu, John

Submitted to: Rice Technical Working Group Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/11/2023
Publication Date: 1/30/2024
Citation: McClung, A.M., Chen, M., Beaulieu, J.C. 2024. Culinary and health beneficial properties of rice varieties developed for niche markets [abstract]. Proceedings of 39th Rice Technical Working Group, Hot Springs, Arkansas, February 20-23, 2023. p. 153-154.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Although conventional milled rice dominates the market, many mainstream grocery stores now carry a wide array of rice products that differ in culinary, processing, and nutritional properties which indicates consumer interest in diversifying their diets with rice. From the earliest days of the establishment of the US rice industry, breeding programs have endeavored to develop varieties for niche markets. Some of the first aromatic releases, Delitus and Salvo, date back to 1917 and were derived from varieties introduced from other countries. Since then, there has been increasing consumer demand for aromatic jasmine and basmati rice which now make up 87% of US imports. Over the years, varieties have been developed for other specialty markets including, parboiling/canning quality, sweet/waxy rice, special cuisines (e.g., risotto, sushi), brewing/distilling, quick cooking/instantizing, and high protein. Rice varieties which have unique flavor profiles, grain appearance traits, cooking properties, and enhanced natural nutrition can be sold with a premium price. This is an incentive for farmers in addition to them being directly in control of marketing their own crop. USDA-ARS has conducted research in support of specialty rice markets as this is in alignment with the agency’s national goals which include: 1) developing crop plants with enhanced nutritional or product quality to address the needs of producers, processors, and consumers, 2) developing crops with higher profit margins for growers to help stabilize rural economies, and 3) producing new crops that provide alternative markets for farmers and a variety of novel products for domestic and international consumers. Recently, USDA-ARS released three rice varieties developed for specialty markets that are being commercialized. “Scarlett”, released in 2018, was an outcome of a NSF project with Susan McCouch, Cornell University, to explore yield enhancing alleles from the wild species O. rufipogon introduced into the O. sativa variety Jefferson. It is a high yielding semidwarf long grain with red bran. Another pigmented variety that was released in 2022 is “USDA-Tiara” which derives its aroma and purple bran from IAC600 from Brazil, but it has more acceptable agronomic traits as is expected for US production. A recent analysis of the volatiles from IAC600, USDA-Tiara, and Scarlett grain demonstrated that USDA-Tiara had a very wide aromatic profile and higher levels of 2-acetyl-1pyrroline than IAC600 whereas Scarlett exhibited lower total volatiles than the brown bran variety, Rondo. Our research has shown that red and purple bran varieties have high levels of phenolic and flavonoid compounds as compared to brown bran. These pigmented rice bran compounds have high anti-oxidant activity and have been shown to decrease cancer cell growth in cell assays and improve intestinal immunity in animal studies. Thus, Scarlett and USDA-Tiara, are examples of new rice varieties that combine consumer desired culinary and nutritional traits with agronomic characteristics resulting in unique rice products that bring greater economic value to rice farmers interested in direct marketing. In 2022, USDA-ARS also released “Santee Gold” rice. This variety was derived from Presidio crossed with Carolina Gold which is an heirloom variety that is still being grown for a “historically authentic” specialty market and is being marketed directly to restaurant chefs and consumers. The goal of this cross was to reconstitute “Carolina Long”, a variety noted in historical records because of its extra-long grain but which no longer exists. Santee Gold combines the longer grain, higher milling and improved productivity found in Presidio with the same culinary traits and distinctive gold hulls found in Carolina Gold. The product will be sold as whole grain brown rice, whole milled rice, and rice grits or “middlin