An agri-environmental crop grown in spectacular scenery varying in tune with the seasons. The wetlands of the Empordà were the only rice-producing area of the Principality from the 14th to the 19th century. Although the 20th century was an unstable period for farming, the start of the new millennium has brought gastronomic recognition and prestige.
Today, around twenty farmers, mainly from the Baix Empordà area, farm almost one thousand hectares of different varieties of rice. These include Bahia rice, the classic round variety, ideal for dishes where rice soaks up all the juices, the slow-cooked onion sofregit, and the aroma of vegetables, seafood and meat.
Surrounded by the Aiguamolls Natural Park in Alt Empordà and the Montgrí, Illes Medes and Baix Ter Natural Park in Baix Empordà, rice producers are fully committed to their environment. They use agri-environmental methods to benefit wildlife and the landscape, spending the cold months each year reconverting fields to the original wetlands. Once they are flooded between late April and early May, sowing begins. It is fascinating to watch, as is the harvest in autumn.
Rice with the 2016-2017 Girona Excel·lent seal
Molí de Pals round, pearl rice.
Owners since 1984 of the historic rice mill in Pals, documented as early as the 15th century, the Parals family know that rice cooked in an earthenware pot has to be a variety that absorbs the liquid, such as the traditional Bahia variety, the most widely grown in Pals.
Semi-long, crystal Molí de Pals rice.
Rice producers for several generations, the Parals family grow various varieties of rice, including the semi-long grain Loto, which is both delicate and resistant.
The rice tasting jury.
Pep Nogué
Chef and gastronomy consultant
Joan Bogonyà
Lecturer at the Girona School of Hotel Management and Tourism
Abraham Simon
Gourmet and cookery writer
Marola Marí
Chef at L’Alqueria restaurant, Girona
Raül Quadres
Lecturer at the Girona School of Hotel Management and Tourism
