Cambodia’s prized rice falls short at awards
Cambodia’s Phka Rumdoul variety of fragrant rice, which won the World’s Best Rice award for three consecutive years from 2012 to 2014, narrowly missed its fourth crown at this year’s awards held in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand last week. Thailand’s own Hom Mali – a close cousin of Phka Rumdoul – took top honours at the annual event in what attendees said was an extremely close contest. “It was a tough decision for the judging committee as our rice and Thailand’s rice were so close,” Hun Lak, vice president of the Cambodian Rice Federation said on November 20. Major rice-producing countries entered the industry’s top contest, submitting more than 50 samples of fragrant rice. The rice was judged according to four criteria before and after cooking: appearance, texture, aroma and the length of the grain. Cambodia lost its crown at last year’s competition to Calrose rice from the United States.
