CONSERVATION

the “Carolina Rice Kitchen,” a synthesis of unique
ingredients and cooking techniques that has had
staying power over centuries.
Nevertheless, after the Civil War the glory
of Carolina gold rice went into plunge with the
liberation of the work force which knew best how to
cultivate and to cook it, successive years of massive
flooding from hurricanes, and the introduction of
more competitive and productive Asian varieties of
rice. As these introduced varieties usurped its place
in the global marketplace, the culture and cuisine
associated the Carolina gold rice virtually went
extinct in North America.
And yet, because Carolina gold seed rice had
garnered such great repute in the 19th century,
and it remained in cultivation in a number of small
pockets around the world - “being passed from
person to person and generation to generation” – it
somehow persisted as a true heirloom. In the 1980’s
Dr. Richard Schulze secured some foundation
seed from Dr. Anna McLung and the Texas Rice
Improvement Association’s seed program located
at the Texas A&M AgriLIFE Research Center in
Beaumont, TX. Schulze re-introduced the grain to
its Low Country home, starting with his own fields
on the Turnbridge Plantation, and donated all of
his harvests to the Church of the Holy Trinity in
Hardeeville, SC, which then bagged the rice and
sold it to contribute to the Epicsopal Mission Fund
for famine relief. Around this same time period,
Glenn Roberts, President and Founder of Anson
Mills, became intrigued by the challenges of assuring
secure seed supplies of Carolina gold rice for
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