Taiwan researchers unveil first locally-developed risotto rice

Taipei, Jan. 23 (CNA) Government agronomists on Tuesday unveiled Taiwan's first-ever locally-developed risotto rice, a hybrid produced by crossing a domestic variety with vialone nano, an Italian medium-grain rice.

The "Hualien No. 26" was presented at a press conference after seven years of development by the Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station.

Agency head Yang Ta-chi (楊大吉) said his office had been working for a decade to develop new rice varieties that can be grown organically, with improved resistance to high temperatures and disease.

As one of the products of this research, Hualien No. 26 is notable as a local alternative to imported risotto rice varieties, with a high customer price and the potential to be exported to other countries in the region, Yang said.

Huang Chia-hsing (黃佳興), a researcher at the agency, said Hualien No. 26 has a number of characteristics that make it ideal for cooking risotto, including a large, starchy core that makes the grains more absorbent.

The variety has a relatively large weight and size, allowing the grains to maintain a firm texture when cooked, as well as a high amylose content, which keeps them from becoming overly sticky or gluey, Huang said.

In environmental terms, the 278 kilometers from Hualien to Taipei also have a much smaller carbon footprint than that of imported risotto rice from Italy, he added.

Aside from risotto, Hualien No. 26 is also well-suited for making arancini (stuffed Italian rice balls), golden fried rice, rice pudding, Japanese ochazuke (tea over rice), and can even be ground into rice flour and added into pizza dough, Huang said.

Hualien farmers working with the agency grew between two and three metric tons of the new variety over two cropping seasons last year, all of which was purchased by restaurants.

This year, the agency plans to have around 30 hectares of the variety cultivated, with the goal of eventually pushing its price down to around NT$200 (US$6.38) per kilogram and making it competitive with imported rice, Huang said.

According to Hsieyi and Lian Cai Ltd. -- two companies that signed a technology transfer for the variety -- Hualien No. 26 is already being used at restaurants including Taipei's Restaurant Page (頁小館), Taitung's Sinasera 24, and Your (嶼耳) and PalioPizza in Taichung.

The rice will also be sold on the recently launched e-commerce platform Taste Italy at Home (義大利廚房), Hsieyi said, though a search of the site on Tuesday evening showed that it was not yet available.