Rice is a cereal, whose story tells of people’s sacrifice, hard work, and high hopes.
This ancient cultivation required centuries of persistence and dedication by farmers, for whom working the soil and the harsh labors of cultivation in the water were the only means of survival. Today’s working methodologies are different from the past, but still require attention.
Rice was born in the Far East thousands of years ago, probably in China, and soon became, and still is, the basic food of the Asian people. Through the centuries, as all food, rice moved along with the conquering armies, ambassadors, enterprising merchants, and its long but steady journey turned to the west, because to the east the Pacific Ocean was at that time an unsurpassable barrier. Rice conquered Indonesia, Indochina, Tibet, India, and the territory of Pakistan where it suffered a setback due to the growing popularity of wheat.
Only in the seventh century A.D. Arabs became history protagonists and with their rapid expansion rice, or “arrùz” , arrived to the Iberian Peninsula.
Rice belongs to the family of grasses, such as wheat, barley, oats and Oryza species. Its botanical name is Oryza Sativa. The most famous subspecies of rice cultivations are Japonica and Indica.
In Italy, the cultivated varieties belong to the Japonica subspecies, which has a round grain, and more recently some varieties belonging to the sub species Indica (long grain) were introduced, to meet the demands of European consumers increasingly more inclined to use rice as a side dish, not only as a first course.
At the end of the month of April rice is seeded: the water is introduced into paddy immediately after sowing, to circumvent the problem of temperature swing between day and night and growing of weeds. It is now that carps make their appearance as useful collaborators, because they feed on insect pests. In mid-September when the rice is ripe, the first step is to drain the water and collect the carps, which have reached a weight of 800/1000 grams. At this point, the rice is threshed and dried before moving to the traditional cleaning of the grain. Fresh processed rice is genuine and delicate, and must be preserved with the same care as the good wine in a cool, ventilated, dry room, in which the ideal temperature does not exceed 17 °C.
Rice is a precious food: usually considered a simple alternative to pasta, it is often forgotten that this cereal is superior to other cereals for its nutritional value. In fact is extremely digestible and totally devoid of cellulose; poverty of sodium chloride and fat makes it also a perfect choice for people with hypertension, heart problems and diabetes.
Rice flour is obtained by grinding the grain of white rice and has a high percentage of starch which is used in the production of sweets, especially in oriental cuisine.
