The Vercelli plain is an area historically devoted to the cultivation of rice. Big ponds create a magical and enchanting landscape, which has inspired many artists and poets. It is here that Acquerello is grown with respect for the environment. The water is always kept high during cultivation. It allows to maintain a delicate ecosystem and conserve the typical fauna of the rice field: It is the home of frogs, dragonflies and herons.

Acquerello rice, the production process in 20 steps.

If the Carnaroli dei Rondolino is so good, there must be a reason be there and it is clear that this depends on the production process, which consists of twenty different delicate passages which allow you to obtain tasty and well-compact beans. All it begins with the rice harvest, which is then immediately done to age inside refrigerated silos (at temperature below 15° C) for a period of about one year, during which the starch stabilizes, thus making each grain more compact. The cooking time of the Acquerello rice increases the absorption capacity of the condiments. Only 1% of the harvest, then, is subjected to aging longest: Watercolor rice 7 years. This allows you to get a product suitable for even the most demanding kitchens.

This phase is then followed by the refining of the rice, which takes place with a propeller invented way back in 1875: turning, this causes a delicate rubbing between a grain and the other, ensuring its whitening but preserving the integrity of the grain. This is a rather expensive method and long, since it requires at least 10 minutes of time compared to the 6 seconds of the industrial system, but it guarantees the perfect preservation of all the organoleptic properties some rice.

Once the whitening of the grain is finished, we proceed with the gem restoration. In 2007, the Rondolino company has developed a machine in which they mix white rice and gems from refining waste for 16 minutes: in this way, the gems melt and are reabsorbed by the grain, thus allowing the elements nutritional –proteins, mineral salts and vitamins – present in the external part, to penetrate inside the grain. A unique procedure of its kind, which allows ad Acquerello to preserve the nutritional values of brown rice (deriving from gems) together with the versatility and the cooking seal of traditional white rice.