Is there the job of tasting rice?

Rice as such is not just one, there are many varieties, like the ones we offer you in Montsià rice, and each variety, supports multiple recipes.

But who decides which variety is better and which rice dishes are the most exquisite? Well, as in many other products, like wine or oil, also exist rice pickers. What a wonderful job the taster, true? Strolling at a long table, taking exquisite dishes to his mouth... But it is not an easy job, and not very common. We explain it below. 

What is the trade of rice taster?

The trade of rice picker it is not something to be achieved lightly. It requires gastronomic training and long-term training to know the main characteristics of this cereal: textures, flavors, how it can vary in each circumstance and the characteristics of the rice after cooking (if it is lighter, compact, what smell does it give off...). 

Behind the final assessment that a client can give when selecting a brand like Montsià, there are a whole series of qualities that make that person say "I like this brand". And that is what the rice pickers: know the whole life cycle of the grain, since its sowing, collection and treatment until cooking, to ensure that that product maintains a consistent quality and standard. 

In Italy, so you can see how seriously they take rice picker trade, they opened in 2003 the "Italian academy of rice tasters", Or what is the same, a school of rice tasters, initiative of two agricultural entrepreneurs and a restaurateur from the Vercelli area. 

In Montsià rice we still don't have an academy, but we have tasters and experts who ensure that the quality of each package that we put in your hands from our Delta cooperative is worthy of being a rice with Denomination of Origin.

Become a rice taster for a day!

To be able to taste and rate a rice, the first thing you should know is that rice is not really distinguished by its inherent flavor but by its ability to incorporate flavor of heat, stew or sauce of the dish in which it participates. Other variables such as color, texture and shape can influence the attractiveness of one variety or another of rice, but the really important one in terms of quality is the flavor that the rice is capable of containing in each grain.

The procedure that expert tasters usually use is to put a large spoonful of the cooked rice in their mouth (and paella, soup rice, stew, risotto, dessert, etc.), before chewing it, hold it in your mouth for a few moments and press with tongue on the palate to extract the juice immersed in each grain of rice and taste it. Regardless of the quality of the recipe, the grain that contains the greatest amount of “broth” will be considered the most suitable for the recipe. 

Do you dare to make a blind tasting of various rice dishes with the same broth?