Taste The Earth

Azienda Falavigna is located in a non-descript area of land that is typical of rice producing areas in Italy-flat; an area abundant with water that when allowed to flow freely into the fields provides the perfect medium for the seeds to sprout and grow.  The superior quality of the rice produced by the family is guaranteed because of the characteristics found in the earth and the water in this part of the Veneto.

The family grows two types of rice both well-respected for use in risotto and other dishes-Vialone Nano and Carnaroli.  The cultivation strictly adheres to organic standards.  

Once the rice is ready to be milled it's taken to a riseria (rice mill) where the process of working the rice grains has been carried out since 1648.  There, two different types of milling can take place depending on the preference of the grower.  The older method uses mechanical mortar and pestle tools to peel the hard layers off the grain while the "new" process held together by a complex series of belts and pulleys features a more mechanized procedure.  According to the mill workers the mortar and pestle method produces a rice that is tastier, and, interestingly enough, it costs more to have your rice milled in this more traditional and simpler manner.

Falavigna has the mill produce three types of finished product:
    1.  An integral rice that we would identify as brown.  This is more suited to soups than risotti, and it needs a longer cooking time.
    2.  A typical white rice which is the most common type found on store shelves in Italy and the States.
    3.  An interesting alternative between those two extremes-semi-integral or sbramato di risone.  It's essentially halfway between brown and white so it maintains a portion of the external fibers of the chaff, doesn't take as long to cook as brown rice, and has more nutrients than white.  

Both the semi integral and the white maintain a nice consistency when cooked al dente for risotti.