Ingredients · Technique · Context

Traditional rice for risotto

Rice supplies the distinct grains and the starch-thickened liquid of risotto. These ten Italian cultivars offer different combinations of grain shape, starch composition and cooked texture. Choose for the bite and sauce you want, with attention to the rice’s milling state.

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Reference context

All ten cultivars contain amylose and amylopectin. Amylose has comparatively long, mostly linear chains; amylopectin has a highly branched structure. Heat and water hydrate the grain, swell starch granules and disrupt their ordered structure during gelatinization. Both polymers can move into the cooking liquid. Amylose contributes to grain firmness, while released amylopectin contributes to adhesive surface films; the sauce also depends on the amount of liquid and the finishing fat.

Reference context

Grain bite, grain-surface adhesion and sauce flow describe different parts of risotto texture. Taste a grain as it approaches doneness, then adjust the liquid for the consistency of the finished dish. For all’onda, keep the rice loose enough to fold into a wave; incorporate butter and cheese off the heat during mantecatura.

La Cucina Italiana cooking school: risotto all’onda and mantecatura

Reference context

Cultivar, milling and aging each describe a different part of the rice. White rice has lost more outer tissue than partly milled rice; Classico identifies varietal traceability, while DOP and IGP identify geographical products.

Ente Nazionale Risi: varietal register, 2026/2027

Arborio

Rice cultivar: Arborio
Grain and identity: Large, strongly pearled grain. Arborio names a cultivar and a broader commercial denomination.
Starch profile: Low apparent amylose in the Arborio samples grown by ENR in 2020 and in Biselli’s germplasm trials. Its amylopectin-rich starch accompanies a comparatively soft, adhesive cooked-grain texture.
Texture and risotto use: A substantial grain for creamy risotto. In Simonelli’s plain-water comparison, Arborio cooked softer and more adhesive than Carnaroli and Vialone Nano.

Grain identity

The Arborio commercial denomination also includes Volano and Telemaco. Cultivar names identify the individual rice; the commercial denomination groups several cultivars.

Sources

Carnaroli

Rice cultivar: Carnaroli
Grain and identity: Large, pearled grain. Carnaroli names both the traditional cultivar and a commercial group.
Starch profile: Intermediate apparent amylose in the ENR-grown 2020 Carnaroli sample and Mazzini’s three-season samples. This starch profile accompanies firm grains and relatively low surface adhesion.
Texture and risotto use: A choice for risotto with defined grains and a firm bite. Simonelli’s cooked-grain tests found substantial firmness and low stickiness in Carnaroli.

Cultivar and processing

Classico identifies traceable traditional Carnaroli. Aging and milling describe the processing of a particular rice product.

Sources

Vialone Nano

Rice cultivar: Vialone Nano
Grain and identity: Broad medium grain with a pronounced central pearl. Riso Nano Vialone Veronese IGP identifies Vialone Nano from its specified Veronese production area.
Starch profile: Intermediate amylose in Mazzini’s three-season Vialone Nano samples, together with firm, relatively non-adhesive cooked grains in Simonelli’s comparison. Amylopectin and amylose also contribute released starch to the cooking liquid.
Texture and risotto use: Traditional Veronese risotto combines a defined grain with a creamy, flowing sauce. Finish with enough liquid for all’onda: the risotto folds into a wave as the pan moves.

Milling state

The IGP specification includes white and partly milled rice. The remaining outer grain layers change the product the cook hydrates.

Sources

Baldo

Rice cultivar: Baldo
Grain and identity: Largely translucent long grain with limited pearling. Baldo and Roma are distinct cultivars within a shared commercial denomination.
Starch profile: Low apparent amylose in the ENR-grown 2020 Baldo sample. Its starch profile accompanies softer, more adhesive cooked grains than Carnaroli in Simonelli’s comparison.
Texture and risotto use: The Baraggia consortium describes Baldo for creamy risotto with grain consistency. Its largely crystalline appearance offers a different grain character from strongly pearled Arborio.

Grain form

White, partly milled and brown Baldo have different amounts of outer grain tissue.

Sources

Sant’Andrea

Rice cultivar: Sant’Andrea
Grain and identity: Long, pearled cultivar. S. Andrea is the register’s abbreviated name for Sant’Andrea; Baraggia DOP identifies a geographical product.
Starch profile: Low apparent amylose in both the ENR-grown 2020 sample and Biselli’s germplasm trials. The cooked grain has a relatively soft, adhesive character; the Baraggia consortium describes substantial starch release during risotto cooking.
Texture and risotto use: A traditional Vercelli rice for flowing all’onda risotto and panissa. Starch in the surrounding liquid helps bind the grains into a cohesive dish.

Cooked texture

Simonelli’s plain-water comparison found lower extrusion firmness and higher stickiness in Sant’Andrea than in Carnaroli.

Sources

Maratelli

Rice cultivar: Maratelli
Grain and identity: Historic, rounded medium-grain cultivar. Maratelli and Nuovo Maratelli are separate cultivar names.
Starch profile: Low apparent amylose in Biselli’s historic Maratelli accession. Alongside its amylopectin-rich starch, the grower Cascina Canta describes gradual starch release and a creamy finish with grain substance.
Texture and risotto use: Traditional risotto rice with a rounded grain. Cascina Canta offers brown, partly milled and milled forms; its culinary description emphasizes creamy risotto with retained grain substance.

Processing

Maratelli 1914 describes slow, light stone milling for its own rice. Partial milling retains more of the grain’s outer layers than white-rice milling.

Sources

Gigante Vercelli

Rice cultivar: Gigante Vercelli
Grain and identity: Historic Lungo A cultivar with a large, pearled grain.
Starch profile: Intermediate apparent amylose in Biselli’s Gigante Vercelli accession. Amylose contributes to grain firmness, while released amylopectin contributes to adhesive surface films.
Texture and risotto use: Slow Food describes distinct cooked grains and starch release suited to creamy mantecatura. The cultivar belongs to the regional risotto and panissa traditions.

Finishing

Mantecatura finishes cooked risotto by incorporating fat into the moist, starchy rice. For a butter-and-cheese finish, move the pan off the heat and fold in the butter and cheese.

Sources

Razza 77

Rice cultivar: Razza 77
Grain and identity: Revived historic cultivar with a semi-tapered Lungo A grain. Razza77 is also a commercial project name.
Starch profile: The Razza77 producer describes its rice as medium in amylose and links the balance and structure of amylose and amylopectin to cooking behavior. Slow Food describes a creamy result with grain substance.
Texture and risotto use: A traditional Novarese risotto rice. Slow Food connects slow stone processing with grain integrity and creaminess during cooking.

Product form

The Razza77 project uses stone whitening in its rice processing; this identifies a particular processed rice product.

Sources

Roma

Rice cultivar: Roma
Grain and identity: Long, pearled cultivar. The register lists Roma separately from Baldo in the Roma/Baldo commercial denomination.
Starch profile: Mundi Riso describes its Roma as a low-amylose, non-glutinous rice. Its culinary profile emphasizes starch release and a soft, well-creamed risotto.
Texture and risotto use: Ellebi recommends its pure Roma for creamy, well-bound risotto with separate grains. The large, pearled grain suits a cohesive sauce around visible rice grains.

Grain identity

Roma and Baldo share a commercial denomination while retaining distinct cultivar identities and grain appearances.

Sources

Rosa Marchetti

Rice cultivar: Rosa Marchetti
Grain and identity: Traditional medium-grain cultivar with an unpearled grain. White and partly milled forms have different outer-layer retention.
Starch profile: Low amylose in Mazzini’s three-season Rosa Marchetti samples. That composition places it toward the tender, cohesive side of cooked-rice texture; partly milled rice also brings its retained outer tissue into the cooking process.
Texture and risotto use: Riso di Nori documents traditional risotto use. Rovasenda describes its partly milled product as soft at the exterior with a firmer center.

Milling and bite

Rovasenda recommends white and partly milled Rosa Marchetti for risotto. Its exterior-to-center texture description concerns the partly milled form.

Traditional rice for risotto

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