This is the first harvest. A handful of friends — most of us first-time farmers, recently out of desk jobs, one of us the farmer whose family land this is — planted Rajamudi, a red rice once grown only for the Wodeyar kings of Mysore, in Coorg. What follows is the long version of why.
A rice with a court behind it
Rajamudi is a heritage variety of red rice from Karnataka. For generations it wasn’t sold in markets at all — it was grown for the Wodeyar royal family of Mysore, and for little else. That’s a heritage story, not a health claim: nobody in the palace was counting glycemic index. But the reason it was fit for a court is also the reason it’s worth growing again — it’s simply a well-made rice.
We came to it sideways. Most of us had never farmed before — one of us grew up around exactly this. The land is a family plot in Coorg that had sat mostly unused, and Rajamudi seemed like the right first crop for the rest of us to learn on — slow, forgiving, and, as it turns out, already spoken for by history.
A rice once reserved for a king’s table. Grown, this year, by a few friends learning as they went — and one who already knew how.
Why unpolished matters
Milling makes rice look tidier and last longer on a shelf. It also removes the bran — the outer layer where most of a grain’s colour, fibre, and micronutrients live. Rajamudi stays unpolished. The red comes from anthocyanins in that bran layer, the same family of pigment that colours berries and red cabbage.
For a diet built around rice — which is most of South India’s — that difference adds up in ordinary, unglamorous ways: more fibre per bowl, a lower glycemic index than the polished white rice it would otherwise replace, and more of the minerals — zinc, iron, magnesium — that milling strips out.
| Property | Rajamudi · unpolished | Polished white rice |
|---|---|---|
| Glycemic index | ~45–55 | ~70–92 |
| Dietary fibre | Retained — bran intact | Mostly milled away |
| Antioxidants (anthocyanins) | Present, from the red bran | Negligible |
| Minerals — zinc, iron, magnesium | Higher | Lower |
How it’s grown
The land belongs to one of our families in Coorg, and Rajamudi felt like the right first crop to learn on. We’ve kept the pest control side organic — neem oil, not synthetic pesticide — but where the local Krishi Vigyan Kendra recommended specific mineral fertilizers, we used them. We’d rather say that plainly than call the harvest something it isn’t.
In the kitchen
Biryani, pulao, porridge — cook it exactly like you already do. It’s nuttier, a little sweeter, and has a lower glycemic index, which matters if you’re keeping an eye on blood sugar. If you already cook rice daily, this is a substitution, not a new recipe.
Order this harvest
This is a small first harvest, not a store yet. Click below, leave your email, and we’ll write back directly to take your order.