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BASMATI RICE
Basmati, pronounced ['bɑːsmət̪iː], is a variety of long, slender-grained aromatic rice, which is usually traditionally grown in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. As of 2019, India accounted for 65% of the int'l in basmati rice, while Pakistan accounted for the remaining 35%. Many countries use domestically grown basmati rice crops; however, basmati is geographically exclusive to certain districts of India & Pakistan.
According to the Indian Government agency APEDA, a rice variety is eligible to be, called basmati if
it has a minimum average precooked milled rice length of 6.61 mm (0.260 in) and average precooked milled rice breadth of up to 2 mm (0.079 in), among other parameters.
Basmati rice has a typical pandan-like (Pandanus amaryllifolius leaf) flavour caused by the aroma compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline. Basmati grains contain about 0.09 ppm of this aromatic chemical compound naturally, a level that is about 12 times as much as non-basmati rice varieties, giving
basmati its distinctive fragrance and flavour. It is a flavoring agent approved in the U.S and Europe,
and is used in bakery products for aroma. During cooking, the level of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline decreases. Soaking the rice for 30 minutes before cooking permits 20% shorter cooking times and preserves
more of the 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline.
There are several varieties of basmati rice. Traditional Indian types include basmati 370, basmati
385, and basmati Ranbirsinghpura (R.S.Pura) and Gujjar Chack area in Jammu province situated at
the India-Pakistani border in Jammu and Kashmir State of India. 1121 and Muradabadi 6465 Extra Long Grain Rice. Pakistani varieties of basmati rice are PK 385, Super Kernel Basmati Rice and D-98.
Scientists at Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Delhi, used conventional plant breeding
to produce a hybrid semi-dwarf plant, which had most of the good features of traditional basmati
(grain elongation, fragrance, alkali content). This hybrid was called Pusa Basmati-1 (PB1; also
called "Todal", because the flower has awns); crop yield is up to twice as high as traditional
varieties. Fragrant rice that are derived from basmati stock but are not true basmati
varieties include PB2 (also called sugandh-2), PB3, and RS-10.
INDIAN VARIETIES
Basmati, P3 Punjab, type III Uttar Pradesh, hbc-19 Safidon, 386 Haryana, Kasturi (Baran, Rajasthan), Muradabadi Basmati 6465, Basmati 198, Basmati 217, Basmati 370 Bihar, Kasturi, Mahi Suganda, Pusa 1121, Pusa 1718, Pusa 1509, Pusa 1692, Pusa 1637, Pusa 1401.
BASMATI CERTIFICATION
The Basmati Mark is a DNA-fingerprinting-based certification done by the laboratory of Basmati Export Development Foundation (BEDF). On 15 February 2016, the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), an autonomous organization under the Department of Commerce in India, registered Basmati Rice as a product with Geographical Indication (GI).
PATENT BATTLE
In September 1997, an American company, RiceTec, was granted U.S. Patent No. 5,663,484 on "basmati rice lines and grains". The patent secures lines of basmati and basmati-like rice and ways
of analyzing that rice. RiceTec, owned by Prince Hans-Adam of Liechtenstein, faced international outrage over allegations of biopiracy. It had also caused a brief diplomatic crisis between India and
the United States, with India threatening to take the matter to the WTO as a violation of TRIPS,
the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Both voluntarily and due
to review decisions by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, RiceTec lost or withdrew
most of the claims of the patent, including, most importantly, the right to call their rice products
basmati. A more limited varietal patent was granted to RiceTec in 2001 on claims dealing
with three strains of the rice developed by the company.