Rice Dishes

The South Carolina Lowcountry was built on rice, perhaps even more than on the long-staple Sea Island cotton it was famous for. Rice culture came to the Low-country from Africa and the Caribbean, along with the slaves imported to clear the land and tend the cotton and indigo that grew on early plantations. Early on, the plantation owners learned— probably from their slaves—that rice could grow very well in tidal South Carolina.

Some rice was grown even on Daufuskie, although the island is small, with only a few freshwater swamps and ponds where the rice could thrive.