Basmati Rice

Many a times people have asked what is the meaning of basmati rice. Basmati rice has been reported in India since the early days of the 19th Century though it may have been named differently. 'Bas' in Hindi language means "aroma" and 'Mati' means "full of" hence the word Basmati i.e. full of aroma. This rice is different from other rice mainly due to the aroma and elongation post cooking. No other rice has this combined characteristic. The post cooking elongation of more than twice its original length, the aroma and its sweet taste has made basmati rice a delicacy. Basmati rice is grown only in Northern India and in parts of Pakistan touching India. One can easily call it the Champagne of India.

A well known Company in USA had applied for the Patent of Basmati Rice i.e. it could label its product as Basmati Rice and in turn nobody else could use this nomenclature for its product. It is like somebody, say in India, gets a patent registered for Champagne and then nobody, even people in France (where Champagne originated from) would be allowed to call its product as Champagne. Though the authorities in USA have rejected the claim however they have allowed their three strains of rice to be called basmati rice. This is also against the principles as basmati rice is only grown in UP, Punjab, Haryana and J&K in India and Punjab in Pakistan since decades. Any rice grown elsewhere other than the above regions cannot be called Basmati, as it cannot have the combined characteristic of aroma and elongation post cooking because of the soil and weather conditions.

Any rice grown elsewhere other than the above regions cannot be called Basmati