Calasparra Rice

Calasparra Rice is a unique, centuries-old short grain rice with a leisurely maturing process. This longer growing cycle produces kernels that are exceptionally dehydrated - ready to absorb even more of the tasty sauces and flavors of paella broth and other Mediterranean recipes.

Calasparra Rice is grown in the mountains of the Spanish province of Murcia, where it enjoys pure mountain water irrigation, unlike the usual rice fields by the Mediterranean Sea. The aqueducts delivering water from the mountain streams were first engineered by the Romans, and then improved upon by the Moors over 1,000 years ago.

Calasparra Rice is renown in Spain and is becoming increasingly popular amongst enthusiasts of Spanish cooking worldwide.

Our Calasparra Rice increases its length and thickness by up to 60% when cooked, soaking up three parts of water to one part of rice.

Since rice is the bedrock of paella, it is advantageous to use either of the strains of rice grown in Calasparra and not cut corners. They have been used for paellas for centuries producing individual al dente grains, swollen with as much good broth as possible. The problem you run into with substitutes is that the other short-grained strains of rice are designed with other applications in mind: Arborio is meant to become creamy when cooked; Asian rice is meant to be sticky; Basmati is light, aromatic and fragile; and long grain rice (such as Uncle Ben's) is a completely different product with lower absorbency.

Each 1kg bag makes over 13 cups cooked rice, it's very absorbent, so good for sauces & broths. It retains shape, not sticky or creamy

There are only two historic varieties of Rice; Sollana (called Calasparra rice) which absorbs in paella up to 3 parts of broth to one of rice and Bomba, which has an higher absorption rate of up to 5 parts of broth to one of rice.