Culture about rice
Sanskrit calls it “Vrihi”, and it is quite evident a sort of assonance with the
present pronunciation, assonance that becomes clearer and clearer with the word
of Persian languages “Brizi”. We arrive then at Mediterranean basin, where Greek
calls it “Oriza”, and Roman people translate it into Latin as “Oryza”. Oryza
remains the same in the Linneo classification. This Oryza from Latin, in
southern India is called Arisi and in the ancient Illyria, Oryz. Arabs, who are
the true promoters of rice and made it spread all around the Mediterranean area,
call it Eruz or Uruz.
In the course of ages, we can find many and
many terms used to define rice.
The rice (Oryza genus), is a annual plant,
belonging to Gramineae, and together with wheat and maize, is one of the
cultivation at the basis of human feeding resources.
As Gramineae, rice has some relation with
wheat, barley, oats, rye, but it presents some exclusive features, such as
starch composition.
In the course of ages, we can find two main
species: Oryza Sativa indigenous to Asia, and Oryza Glaberrima indigenous to
Africa, whose tillage is in a continuous regress in favour of Asiatic rice.
Oryza Sativa presents three subspecies:
· Indica: cultivated
in India and characterised by a fairly good productive capacity, resistance to
weather adversities and a long, fine and crystal-clear grain. It is the oldest
one, as demonstrated by reports found in eastern China and northern India dated
VI and V age B.C. From Indica subspecies come some famous rice types, as Basmati
from Pakistan, whose characteristic is a sandalwood aroma, as Long Thai, and as
American Long Grain from Patna family;
· Japonica, right for
temperate zones, came from China to Japan, has a short grain with starch often
thickened as a pearl and sometimes glutinous. Japonica includes plants
presenting a better productivity, and easily adaptable to different environments.
By Japonica hybridisation come all Italian varieties;
· Javanica, spread in
Indonesia islands, is characterised by a long and large grain. It is the less
important among the three subspecies.
Oryza Glaberrima is indigenous to Africa, in
a particular zone between the high course of Niger river and Ciad lake, where it
was cultivated on 1500 B.C., so it is younger than Oryza Sativa.
(Alessio)
