The rice is golden and ready for harvesting, and this is happening all over Bhutan. Across the valley from our house I've been watching all the activity for a few weeks. Rice is super labor intensive to grow and harvest because everything has to be done by hand. No machinery is involved. The parcels of paddy the farmers are harvesting are big enough to grow enough rice for a big family to eat for a year, so it's worth the effort. Bhutanese, like everyone in Asia it seems, love rice. Their special red rice is completely organic, and it has no natural arsenic. Lots of white rice has low levels of arsenic that occurs naturally.
The farmers cut the sheaths of rice and pile them up in the field to dry. Once dry, they spread out big blue plastic tarps and beat the sheaths on the plastic to loosen the rice grains. They scoop the grains up into big sack for storage. The grains are encased in thick, brown hulls, so before it can be eaten the rice has to be milled to separate the chaf from the grain. There's nothing tastier than fresh rice, newly milled and cooked and eaten most likely here in Bhutan with ema datse (chilies and cheese).
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