Original Indian Basmati Rice:
Of all the rice varieties available in the world, Basmati holds a special place in the hearts of connoisseurs due its specific characteristics.? It has a delicate aroma that pervades the air when one cooks it and, on cooking, each grain elongates to twice its length.? The grains stay separate and are non-glutinous with a texture and taste all their own. The word? Basmati? itself means fragrant in Hindi, the language of India, the home of this unique rice.
Today market is flooded with number of brands offering a range of basmati rice. However, Purists insist that the only genuine basmati rice is the one that is grown traditionally using the original seed variety and that too in the fertile sub-Himalayan plains, irrigated using nothing but rain water and waters of the Himalayan rivers. The soil composition, mineral content in water and the atmosphere all contribute to giving original Basmati its typical grain, texture, and aroma.
India and Pakistan account for the supply of original Basmati rice to the world but Indian Basmati Rice is traditionally considered premium basmati rice and the purest and original strains are grown naturally, irrigated by Himalayan Rivers, and cultivated traditionally since centuries. India specifically has several states in the North that have been growing Basmati rice traditionally since centuries and these states are Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand. The Geographic Indication (GI) tag is applicable only to Basmati produced in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir.
Over the years much research and development has gone into producing hybrid strains with a higher yield. The original strains of basmati are Basmati 386, Basmati 217, Ranbir Basmati, Taraori Basmati, Basmati 370, Dehradun Basmati, Pusa Basmati as well as the 1121 Extra Long Grain Rice. The Indian Agricultural Research Institute in Delhi produced hybrids with twice the yield classified under the Pusa Basmati range and the Sugandha varieties. These hybrids and some original strains though not grown strictly according to traditional methods still qualify as Basmati rice. In all there are 29 varieties of Basmati rice cultivated in the Northern regions of India.
In Haryana, 50 percent of the place is getting used for cultivating basmati rice. Karnal, Panipat, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, and Ambala are mainly the rice developing areas in Haryana wherein Karnal region, is often referred as the rice bowl of India that delivers the finest nature of Haryana basmati rice.
Source- Different source site and also Indian import-export website