The Making of Authentic Italian Rice - What Rice to Use for Risotto, Carnaroli Rice vs Arborio Rice, Aged Rice, and Northern Italian Food Culture

Making the highest-quality Italian rice, from soil mapping techniques and aging processes to pioneering blockchain technology in modern agriculture, is something Meracinque co-founder Silvia Tovo knows all about.

In this episode of ITALIAN, FOR SURE, host Catrin Skaperdas sits down with Silvia for a fun, deep dive into the world of Italian food, specifically rice culture - including choosing the correct rice for risotto, the real rice-dish star of Milanese cuisine (which isn't what most people think), and how food culture takes shape across Italy.

Together, they talk about:

• Verona, Mantova and Italian food culture
• How Silvia built Meracinque with her four sisters
• How Italian rice and its specific varieties are different than other rices around the world
• The rice she produces, carnaroli rice ("the king of rice"), and how it differs from the arborio variety
• Popular rice dishes around Italy and when in the year you eat them
• The breakdown of how rice is planted, harvested, dried, and aged for a full year, and why aging makes all the difference in quality
• What it’s like working with four sisters
• The adversity Silvia and her sisters face being a women owned business, especially in this sector
• What it’s like selling rice to different markets
• The pros and cons of running a food business in Italy

Chapters

02:01 Intro

03:08 Verona, Montava, and Italian Food Culture

06:28 The birth story of Meracinque

08:43 Characteristics of rice: carnaroli vs arborio

12:09 Different rice dishes around Italy

14:57 What rice dishes Italians eat and when they eat them throughout the year

16:08 Rice cultivation process start to finish

21:08 Pros and cons of running a family-owned business

23:58 What it’s like to be a women-owned business in this industry

28:22 Selling Italian rice outside of Italy

35:27 Difficulties of running a business in Italy

40:56 Outro

More about Meracinque:

Founded in 2016, MeraCinque is an innovative agricultural company run entirely by Silvia and her four sisters—Margherita, Benedetta, Anna, and Maria Vittoria. Inheriting a deep passion for the land from their agronomist father, the sisters united to produce an exceptional, 100% sustainable Carnaroli Classico rice. Their name tells their story: "Mera" for meraviglia (wonder), their lifelong family nickname, and "Cinque" representing the five sisters bringing a new balance and harmony to Italy's traditional farming industry.

Learn more about Meracinque on their website: https://www.meracinque.com/

This interview is available to watch on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube, and available to listen-only everywhere else you can get podcasts.

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