Langit Collective’s founders fell in love with Sarawakian heirloom rice and set out to empower the hands behind the produce

As cliche as it sounds, the rest was history. “It was a little love affair with rice,” she laughs. Getting to know the community that grew the rice, the trio realised that while the grains were often in excess, farmers were unable to monetise the crop due to a lack of infrastructure—Long Semadoh is in the highlands, far from towns, and the surrounding communities could only support them to an extent. Furthermore, price fluctuations were often unfavourable to farmers. “It began with the simple idea of helping farmers match their incredible produce in remote places with the wider market,” she explains.  

Currently, Langit Collective has five core rice varieties, two of them white (Beras Adan and Beras Salleh), one red (Beras Sia), and two black or purple (Beras Keladi and Beras Rumie). “While size and colour set them apart visually, each variety has its own unique taste, flavour, and texture, which really brings the consumer on a journey,” Lim enthuses. “Beras Adan is remarkable as a white rice, as it is incredibly fragrant, soft, and results in the best porridge one can possibly make.”

On the other end of the spectrum lies Beras Rumie, which when cooked, turns a deep purple. “It smells akin to glutinous rice, and has a lot of elements of surprise,” she says. Like Beras Adan, Beras Rumi lends itself to porridge well. 

“Chefs often use Beras Sia, our red rice, which is slightly nutty while gentler in terms of mouthfeel compared to brown rice,” Lim explains. “Beras Keladi, the other purple rice, has a pandan and nutty fragrance.” Each variety brings its own, unique character, so it is unsurprising that chefs across Malaysia have fallen in love with the grains.

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“One of our earliest supporters was chef Darren Teoh of Dewakan,” she recalls. “We always felt rice was a staple, but working with him and seeing him translate it into exciting dishes blew our minds.” Langit Collective also works closely with Lim Heng Kit of Li Restaurant, who uses the rice in the eatery’s comforting rice bowls. Beta KL’s Raymond Tham and Chocha Foodstore’s Mui Kai Quan were also some of the earlier adopters of their heirloom rice. “It is a wonderful time and space in the local dining industry to see how chefs utilise local ingredients and manipulate them into impressive dishes,” Lim says excitedly.

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While Langit Collective delivers in terms of quality and taste, it also offers traceability. “We purchase directly from individual farmers, and [Chan], one of our co-founders, spends three quarters of his time at Long Semadoh, doing farm audits and procurements,” Lim says. As such, customers can rest assured knowing exactly where their grains come from.

While Langit Collective began with rice, its reach has expanded to different farming communities, such as spices, to match more producers with consumers. “With eight years of experience, we have started sharing our knowledge through training in rural areas to equip more people with the skills to bring their own products to market,” she says. “When we first began, it was a naive idea, but our supporters were courageous enough to give us a chance to discover diverse Malaysian ingredients and share them with the world.”

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