Rediscover Bengal’s Lost Heirloom Rice

Professor Debal Deb wrote a fascinating article in the Scientific American.

Here is quote about Bhutmuri Rice from this article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-struggle-to-save-heirloom-rice-in-india/

"Raghu, a young man of the Santal tribe, sat me under the shade of a huge mango tree while his daughter fetched me cold water and sweets made from rice. As I was relishing these, I noticed that Raghu’s pregnant wife was drinking a reddish liquid. Raghu explained that it was the starch drained from cooked Bhutmuri rice—meaning “ghost’s head” rice, perhaps because of its dark hull. It “restores blood in women who become deficient in blood during pregnancy and after childbirth,” he said. I gathered that this starch is believed to cure peripartum anemia in women."

At Fair Bengal, we are helping farms in Bengal to share their unique produce with the world. One such organization is Gaonta Khamar in Bankura district. Interestingly they sell Professor Deb's Bhutmuri Rice among other things.

Browse the full collection at Gaonta Khamar: https://fairbengal.com/iconic-places/gaonta-khamar