The rice kitchen of Carolina was the result of myriad influences—Persian, Arab, French, English, and African—but it was primarily the creation of enslaved African American cooks. And it evolved around the use of Carolina Gold. The ancient way of cooking rice, developed in India and Africa, became the Carolina way. Carolina Gold rice was so esteemed that its very name became a generic term in much of the world for the finest long-grain rice obtainable.

This engaging book is packed with fascinating historical details and speculations, as well as more than three hundred recipes and a facsimile of the Carolina Rice Cook Book from 1901. A new foreword by John Martin Taylor underscores Hess's legacy as a culinary historian and the successful revival of Carolina Gold rice since the book was first published.