'Cho-Seun Zo-Saeng' Upland Rice (Korean)

Oryza sativa

Origin: Korea via China

Improvement status: Cultivar

Seeds per packet: ~70

Germination tested 01/2026: 98%

Life cycle: Annual

Cho-Seun Zo-Saeng' is a tall-growing Korean heirloom upland rice variety. We haven't yet tasted it, but it's said to have a unique, nutty flavor. Its short grains have a reddish bran and, like all rices, requiring de-hulling before cooking. Beneath that bran is a soft, creamy, brown-hued grain perfect for plain or fried rice. Plants can reach 4 feet tall.

This seed came into the USDA collection in 1947, along with about 140 other upland rice accessions from Korea. It hasn't been widely grown since then, but we've had great reports from the few people we can find who have grown it. Upland rices do not require flooded paddies to grow. They'll do just fine in most garden or farm soils, even with little to no irrigation, in areas with adequate rainfall.

This seed was grown by our friend Tyler Neitzey of North Carolina, whom EFN co-founder Nate Kleinman got to know because Tyler was a member of the first student cohort of the Ira Wallace Seed School, a project of Ujaama Cooperative Farming Alliance, for which Nate is an instructor.

GROWING TIPS: Direct-sow after all danger of frost has passed (or else start seeds indoors a couple weeks earlier). Plants should be spaced around a foot apart to encourage maximal tillering. This variety ripens in about 120 days.