An Unusual Rice Story of Thavala-kannan Rice

Hello, Here's an unusual Rice story for you.

Once upon a time, there was this red rice called Thavala-kannan, which in Malayalam means "Frog's eyes" because the rice grains remind people of the (you guessed it right!) eyes of a frog! It was grown in the Palakkad district of Kerala. It was one of those world-famous Palakkadan Matta rices.

As years passed by, Green Revolution came along in India. And when the Governments encouraged farmers to grow the same kind of rice using chemicals, rices like Thavala-kannan were grown by fewer and fewer farmers. Until the turn of the 20th century, when Thavala-kannan almost went extinct.

Then came along, as Knights in shining armour, seed-savers who were part of the Save Our Rice campaign (of which Devi, our Co-founder was a part!) launched across 6 states of India to revive heritage rices like Thavala-kannan. They found farmers who still were growing it, and worked hard to get some organic farmers to grow it again. It is still grown by just a few organic farmers known to Bio Basics.

Today, Bio Basics presents Thavala-kannan rice (parboiled) to you grown in Thrissur district (bordering Palakkad). This year a very small batch of rice (with 50% bran, and non-sticky cooking quality leaving a great feeling in your mouth) is available. It is known for its high iron content compared to other rice varieties, and is also relatively lower Glycemic Index (lower the better for diabetics!). So please do hurry, and order quickly if you want to try it out. With the unpredictable rain patterns, it is getting increasingly difficult to grow and harvest this rice.

Now Fast Forward: Months from now, many families fell in love with Thavala-kannan, and so more families clamoured to taste it, Thavala-kannan was loved by farmers as well. More and more Thavala-kannan became available in the market. These families told other families and so the popularity of Thavala-kannan grew from Kerala to Tamil Nadu to the rest of India. Years later, Thavala-kannan became the favorite red rice of many families. And Bio Basics was happy to know Thavala-kannan finally found home in thousands of homes across India.

And everyone lived happily ever after!

Did you like that story? Well, it is true, except for the future bit. It is in your hands to make it happen. So make it happen!

In the meantime, we at Bio Basics will continue to work with farmers conserve one rice at a time by adding it to our plates.