Gharib is an Iranian cultivar, listed in the Gynesys database as being an aromatic variety. The plants flowered 64 days after transplanting in late May and were harvested in September at 103 days from transplanting. The plants reached a height of 4 foot and had no issues with lodging. With minimal tillering, the yield was modest at 5 pounds per 100 square foot bed. Gharib is an awned, medium grain rice with a milky white bran color. It is likely a lowland variety but did fairly well under upland conditions. Here is a link to the Genesys database page “Aromatic Accessions by presence of 2AP”
https://www.genesys-pgr.org/subsets/59e7da65-8c00-41e4-910a-12f9d7dd8184
Gharib has a nice “popcorn” aroma once dehulled. After pearling and cooking, the grains acted in the same manner as basmati, by elongating instead of swelling like most medium and short grain types. Gharib is a medium grain rice but has a true aromatic rice flavor and texture. After cooking the grains easily forked apart and were not very sticky. I made a wonderful dish of Sabzi Polo (Persian herbed rice) using Gharib.
