Rice as substitute

[atlantis]

Carolina/Georgia produced rice prewar for export, could that have been an effective substitute for the northern grain once used by the south. What obstacles were in the way.

 

[dlofting]

It would have made a good substitute for potatoes but could only be made into bread if rice flour was produced. I've never used rice flour so am not sure how easy it is to make bread, nor what additives are required. Asian outlets sell rice balls, which can be carried, like hard bread but I'm not sure whether Georgia and South Carolina grew sticky rice, which I assume is needed.

 

[milhistbuff1]

Makes me wonder how much sake got made for medicinal purposes.

 

[major bill]

Are we talking about a war time substitute or a post war substitute? The South grew corn and corn might be a better substitute. The planting of corn could be more widespread. Sake is fermented and for lightweights. Shocbu is distilled. It is best drank straight. Lightweights vadd ice or soda. For good shocbu you might need a few sweet potatoes or barley to add flavor.

 

[atlantis]

Are we talking about a war time substitute or a post war substitute? The South grew corn and corn might be a better substitute. The planting of corn could be more widespread. Sake is fermented and for lightweights. Shocbu is distilled. It is best drank straight. Lightweights vadd ice or soda. For good shocbu you might need a few sweet potatoes or barley to add flavor.

Major bill I was talking about a wartime substitute.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Carolina/Georgia produced rice prewar for export, could that have been an effective substitute for the northern grain once used by the south. What obstacles were in the way.

Rice is still grown in both GA and SC, but not being a farmer I don't know how difficult it is to raise.

 

[gary]

Rice was known in the South. However, you need a lot of water to grow rice. You need water to cook rinse. Never mind the rinsing or washing that should be done before cooking. That cooking pot is going to need cleaning too. More water. Soldiers could be issue rice ration, but it's only practical at a camp.

Major Bill mentioned corn. I remember one officer who went home to recover from his injuries. He was infuriated that corn growers would rather make corn squeezing than sell the grain to the army as animal fodder/ration. Found it:

Roswell Guards Capt. Tom Edward King was wounded in the ankle while teaching his Yankee counterparts the Bull Run Quick Step at Bull Run. He was hospitalized at Richmond and then returned to Roswell, Georgia to recuperate. Never one to be idle, he began writing Jeff Davis. Apparently some Confederates were more interested in their own economic welfare than that of the Confederacy and it infuriated Capt. Roswell. You see, some folks were disposed towards distilling the corn rather than consuming it as food. Picking up his pen, he wrote that the "gates of hell" were driving up the price of corn and causing a severe shortage. "Unless a stop is put to this criminal waste of the staff of life, it will soon be out of the power of the families of our volunteers to get any and there will be suffering." Capt. Roswell was not alone in his indignation and Georgia Gov. Joseph Brown was also concerned. Before Davis acted, Brown issued a proclamation on Feb. 28, 1862 prohibiting the distillation of spirits and to conserve corn for consumption.

 

[Steven Rockwell]

Perhaps Captain Roswell had not considered the difficulty some corn farmers had in getting their crop to market before it rots, which was one of the reasons the western PA farmers had for turning corn into whiskey in the first place in the lead up to the Whiskey Rebellion. Corn is big and bulky and requires a lot of wagons to move what turns into a small amount of crops if it's turned into something like corn meal or some other form where's it's taken off the cob. Selling it on the cob just goes back to big and bulky. Every horse or mule used to move corn is a horse or mule not in use by the army. Of course, as the war progressed and things like railroad lines were wrecked, that just complicated matters.

Then again, it may simply have been as simple as people like whiskey and money.