Here’s another throw-back Thursday from our trip to Louisiana. There’s a tiny company called the Konriko Rice Company in New Iberia, Louisiana. They do rice the old-fashioned way and they give tours to show how it’s done.
My tour guide, Dynelle. A charming southern woman with a sweet Cajun drawl who took her time to explain how things worked.Konriko is a play on words from the Conrad Rice Company.This building has warehoused and prepared rice for consumption for over 100 years. It does still produce rice products, but only for the products they sell in their gift shop. Modern rice productions have streamlined the process to be much more efficient. Konriko wants to maintain their historical status.A storage silo for holding grain until it’s ready to be processed.In the warehouse is a small diagram of the process of making rice edible. Rice was not in production while I was there, so the machinery was silent as our footsteps echoed in the warehouse. Several large machines, which were state of the art back in the day, were used to separate the rice from the hulls.This is a bagging machine, which packs the rice in burlap bags to be sold. Here is a stamped brown paper bag used today for rice ready to sell.This little guy has taken up residence in the warehouse and begged for a long petting and posed for a photo. Here’s a sample of the Konriko products for sale in the gift shop and online.Here’s a quick rundown of how the rice is processed from rough to white rice.
If you travel to New Iberia, be sure to stop by and tell Dynelle hello. She’s a treat to talk to and she gives wonderful suggestions for places to see locally. It’s not necessary to do the tour, although the movie at the beginning gives an educational and interesting account of Louisiana history–it explains how Cajuns became Cajuns, Creole history, and even a tragic love story. It is definitely worth a stop. Not only that, Dynelle will give you a free sample of their delicious rice. They also have marinades, hot sauces, seasonings–all kind of Louisiana flavor, and all can be purchased on their website.
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I don’t make it too often anymore, either. It was a great stop and I loved talking to Dynelle–she was the sweetest lady and I loved her accent while she shared her recipes and the history of the place. I would have stopped just for her!
Fascinating story Dawn– people doing things the old way, a piece of current history. My grandmother grew up in St. Martinsville, a small town near there. I’d love to get back to that part of the country. thanks. Blessings on all your travels.
A neat stop! We used to eat a lot of rice, but since we hit the road, I don’t make it very often.
I don’t make it too often anymore, either. It was a great stop and I loved talking to Dynelle–she was the sweetest lady and I loved her accent while she shared her recipes and the history of the place. I would have stopped just for her!
We have stopped by twice over the years. We still order their rice for delivery a couple of times a year.
I love their secret bay sauce–it’s a little pricy, but delicious.
I know nothing about growing and processing rice, thus I found this especially interesting.
I had no idea so much work went into it.
That was interesting and sounds like it was fun.
Fascinating story Dawn– people doing things the old way, a piece of current history. My grandmother grew up in St. Martinsville, a small town near there. I’d love to get back to that part of the country. thanks. Blessings on all your travels.