Riso Buono, gourmet Italian rice

from the 17th century until now

A decade ago Cristina Brizzolari lived in Rome and worked in the real estate business, dividing her time between Rome and London. She considered herself more of a seaside person than a countryside person (soon to change when she took on the creation of Riso Buono). Around this time Cristina's father-in-law, Luigi Guidobono Cavalchini, asked her if she would consider taking on the revitalization of the family’s historic Casale and bring it back to life. The Casale had been abandoned for a century and only one local farmer continued to grow rice for his own family’s consumption on the family land.

The Casale is located in Castelbeltrame, close to Novara in the Piedmont rice growing region. Cristina’s husband wasn't interested in bringing the family land back to life but Cristina decided to take on the mammoth challenge.
Cristina chose to grow just two kinds of rice, and to make them both outstanding, hence the name Riso Buono (good rice). Carnaroli rice is the ideal rice for making outstanding risotto so that was a given, but Cristina wanted to grow one other rice - a healthy brown rice to use in easy-to-prepare dishes like a rice salad, so she chose Artemide.
The timing for this new endeavor was perfect as it coincided with the elderly farmer’s decision to retire. The piece of land is 200 hectares, cultivated on a three year rotating basis: half rice, and the remainder corn and herbs to use as animal feed. Cristina gives the animal feed to local farmers in exchange for manure to fertilize the rice fields.
Cristina's Carnaroli rice isn't like most rice, and as a result it's much more expensive than your average grocery store variety.
One of the things that brings up the Riso Buono Carnaroli rice cost is that Cristina ages the rice for one year before selling, a technique that improves the rice quality. Her rice carries the “classico” name because of its aging and she suggests when you buy a Carnaroli rice for risotto that you look for “classico” on the packaging.
In addition to growing rice, Cristina also took on the restoration of the near-abandoned family Casale. The Casale dates back to the 17th century, and has beautiful frescoed ceilings and hundreds of windows Cristina had to restore. Quite a project but now she has a gorgeous living area for herself and her family, and the other part of the Casale is used for the rice business.
You can visit the Casale if you're in the area and see how Italian risotto rice is grown, and tour the magnificent Casale and its secret garden.

Contact information:
La Mondina Società Agricola Semplice
Via Gautieri, 2/4, 28060
Casalbeltrame (No) - IT
Tel +39 03211826327
info@risobuono.it
Riso Buono in on Facebook and Instagram.
You can buy Riso Buono rice online through their website or through their international distributor.

Artemide rice variety

The Artemide variety derives from the combination of Venus rice (medium grain and black pericarp) and Indica rice (long, narrow grain and white pericarp). It's brown, aromatic, a black color. Artemide rice has an intense and pleasant aroma. The grains have a nice elongated shape. Artemide rice is excellent when cooked with cheese, fish, vegetables and mushrooms.

Carnaroli gran riserva

Riso Buono Carnaroli Gran Riserva rice ages untreated for one year; this aging process is a well-known technique, and extensively used in ancient times. In fact, after drying, rice still has to acquire all its top-quality characteristics. Rice, when aged and stored with care, greatly increases in size and this reduces the dispersion of starch and minerals during cooking. The grains of Riso Buono's Carnaroli Gran Riserva do not stick during cooking and keep their shape and resist over-cooking.
Carnaroli Classic rice is a very fine variety of superfine rice. The grain is big and about 7 mm long, elongated, with a small white pearl center.
It was created in 1945 from a cross between two varieties: Vialone (with high amylose that seals in cooking) and Lencino (long rice, with a very large pearl).

Artemide Rice Flour

Artemide Rice flour is produced by using exclusively rice cultivated on the Riso Buono estate. The process, via the slow grinding of broken treated brown rice, makes sure that the features and nutritional values of Riso Buono Artemide are preserved. Rice flour, "mochiko" in Japanese, is a cornerstone of Eastern diets and is becoming more and more popular in Italian cuisine. Riso Buono Flour is a gluten-free and low-fat product, easily digestible, with a high nutritional value. In many recipes it can replace wheat flour to obtain dishes suitable for people who have gluten intolerance or celiac disease. Compared to others rice flour, Riso Buono Artemide brown flour has many more antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

Carnaroli Rice Flour

Carnaroli Rice flour is produced by using exclusively rice cultivated on the Riso Buono estate. Like Artemide flour it's also made through the slow grinding of broken, treated white rice.

Many chefs use high quality Riso Buono rice to make their risotto dishes. Another delicious risotto dish, courtesy of Chef Roberto Maurizio

Purple cabbage is a nutrient-rich vegetable with a variety of health benefits that make it the perfect match for Riso Buono high quality carnaroli rice. This recipe by Sabrina also incorporates potatoes and pistachios.