19 November 2021 12:00 am Views - 604
For the first time, Sri Lanka has its own brand of black rice grown organically.
With a sales growth of 35 percent from the time of its introduction to the market, Akshata owners Grains ‘N’ Green (Pvt.) Ltd has also seen a growth of its rice brand to the country’s top 5. Akshata has achieved a considerable brand growth.
The healthy black rice variety is grown in its own fields and is available at high-end supermarkets like Spar, Glowmart and askshatastore.com and is promoted by Akshata as ‘Forbidden Rice’. Black rice is known as the Caviar of Rice not only due to its high price but also because of its rarity.
Grains N Green Managing Director Roshan Perera stated, “It was a proud moment for the company and Sri Lanka, as this type of rice was thought of as virtually impossible to grow here but after two years of trial and error a select group of farmers were able to harvest it with our guidance, which goes to prove that nothing is impossible in this blessed land.”
Perera further added, “Akshata was also the first to harvest large-scale heirloom rice varieties like Suwandal, Kuruluthuda and Pachchaperumal, which are now household names, although they had been grown over 2000 years ago but had unfortunately become almost redundant once the chemically dependent rice varieties were introduced for commercial benefits.
Many companies have now followed suit and have flooded the market with lower standard products. I would not put it past them to now steal these seeds from our farmers and copy this variety as well but as you know the best form of flattery is imitation.”
Food nutritionists consider black rice as a modern super food. Researchers have found that black rice reduces reactive oxygen species (ROS), the free radicals produced in the body, which is the cause of many diseases.
Black rice is black in colour, due to the presence of the anthocyanin pigment on the outer layers (bran) of the rice kernel. Black rice is rich in tocopherols (vitamin E), iron and antioxidants. Black rice has high levels of protein, fibre, vitamins (Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, folic acid) and minerals (iron, zinc, calcium, phosphorous and selenium) compared to that of white rice. The major essential amino acids present in black rice are lysine and tryptophan. It also possesses a lot of health benefits like antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory properties, lipid oxidation, anti-diabetic, anti-ageing and
anti-cancer effects.