The first slaves were brought to the Caribbean by Portuguese traders in 1502, beginning the transport of African farmers to the Americas in numbers that ultimately would reach about 10 million people. ( Only six percent of these lived in North America.)
Settlers early on had killed off the native Caribbeans, and the grazing animals they introduced to the islands soon reduced native vegetation to rubble. The solution? Grow sugar cane, an import from Asia that may have started life as a wild plant in New Guinea. Problem? No workers for this intensive, hands-on crop. Solution? You know.
Soon after 20 slave farmers arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 thanks to a Dutch privateer, plans were established to make use of Africans' skills as cotton, sugar and rice growers on vast plantations. In their Adobe-available document, Rice-To-Know Facts, the National Rice Month folks note that rice was the first agribusiness-grown crop in the colonies, underway by 1685. No mention of the people doing all that back-breaking rice business in the Carolinas, though.
Rice provides half the world with the majority of their calories and of course is central to the cuisines of Asia, and much of South America and Africa. Rice, Oryiza sativa, we salute you! Risotto con funghi is on our menu to kick off NR Month. It's September, by the way.
Sounds great. I can't wait to get home and try it. The tip about soaking the mushrooms in cream sounds decadent. Yum.
And no need to apologize for recipe organization -- that's enough info for figuring out what to do. I just figured you might have an interesting spin on it -- which you did, with the cream, as well as the green onions. I have traditionally done something a bit simpler, adding water-soaked porcini mushrooms to a basic risotto. I'm looking forward to trying it with cream-soaked wild mix of some sort. Thanks.
Posted by: Cynthia | August 30, 2005 at 02:27 PM
Guess I should be more organized re my own recipes, but I'm just not--I cook risotto with a good white wine, arborio rice, wild mushrooms, a well aged Parmesan, etc etc.
My Hungarian friend Fred taught me to soak the dried funghi ( or even fresh brown mushrooms) in a cup of cream while everything else is going, then add them toward the end of the cooking process. And my risotto always includes spring onions for some color.
Posted by: Foodie | August 30, 2005 at 02:16 PM
This is the downside of the rise of tea, coffee, and chocolate that most people don't mention -- the need for more sugar, and the solution hit upon for getting that sugar. Sigh. History is not always pretty. But it's a nice reminder how much better things are today -- and we didn't have to give up chocolate to see slavery ended.
And thanks for the update on Rice Month. I love risotto con funghi -- what a great idea for a kick-off. I'll have to dig up a recipe (unless you have one you'd like to share). And maybe I'll follow that with arroz con frijoles negros, and then --gosh, I can plan rice dishes for the whole month. Good stuff, rice.
Posted by: Cynthia | August 30, 2005 at 01:27 PM