A dryland (non-flooded) heirloom rice that enslaved Africans grew on high ground and in garden plots for their own families, not the plantation market. Long-lost in the US and rematriated in 2016 from a Trinidad maroon community.
Hill rice was the people's rice — grown in the slave quarter garden, hand-pounded in a mortar, cooked for the family after the plantation rice went to market. It survived in the US only in memory until food historian Glenn Roberts and chef BJ Dennis helped bring seed back from Trinidad's Merikin villages, founded by Black Americans freed for fighting the British in 1815.
As a whole grain, Hill rice carries the bran's fiber and minerals — manganese for antioxidant enzymes, magnesium for blood pressure regulation, selenium for thyroid and immune function. Its lower-yield, slow-grown character means a denser, more aromatic grain. Cooled and reheated, it builds resistant starch that supports gut health and steadier glucose.
Hill rice cooks like a fragrant long-grain: rinse, then absorb 1 cup rice in 1.75 cups water (it can drink a little more than Carolina Gold), 15-18 minutes covered, rest 10 minutes. The aroma fills the kitchen — do not bury it in heavy sauce.
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