CALASPARRA Rice (Paella Rice) - 1 bag, 1 Kg

I have been cooking for many years (and cooking paella for many more..). Truth told, you can use almost any rice IF you want to and IF you don't mind sacrificing originality and perfection. That said, Calasparra (Bomba..) rice is required for authentic paella. There are quite a few differences in rices... The ONE most important here is the ability of the rice to absorb liquid and still remain firm enough to exhibit a "tooth" (described as 'al punto' ..... should you care..!). This particular trait allows the rice to cook, remain firm and separate, absorb liquid (and flavor.!), and to casually and easily brown and form the perfect socaratt (sp..??). Bomba rice is specified for paella. Calasparra is the region where the highest quality Bomba is grown (according to convention and DOP ...). So if you are looking for authenticity AND quality, this one is hard to beat. Another fact that makes it particularly nice is the "value". Of the available Bomba rices this is one of the more favorably priced ones. It is hard to argue with quality and value. If you decide to use some of this rice for your paella, be sure to follow the directions for liquid amounts. It specifies four to one liquid to rice. I have used SLIGHTLY less than that, but not much less.! You really need the liquid because this rice is so "thirsty". It really drinks up the liquid. I typically use a meat stock for liquid unless I am preparing a seafood paella. Then I resort to vegetable stock with some added clam juice or shrimp stock. In any event grind up the saffron a little before soaking (mortar and pestle works good..) and try to use Spanish paprika, although you can certainly try out other types for slight flavor differences. Good luck with your paella.!! Excellent product at a great price. Tremendous value. HIGHLY recommended.!

Very good for paella. Follow the instructions and it's very easy

I was working on a recipe for a website and needed a more authentic type of rice. Bomba is recommended but was a little pricier than what I wanted to pay. I did a bit of research and this type of rice was listed as an acceptable variety due to its round shape and absorbency. In good paella you want the rice to absorb all the liquid and then form a crusty bottom called socrarrat. This rice was perfect! I have had paella at restaurants, and this was the first time making it at home and I could not have been happier with the results. I figure I will be able to make 3 pans of paella with this bag.

My wife and I both love paella, and we enjoyed it on multiple visits to Spain, and at Spanish restaurants in Europe. After visiting multiple local area restaurants that serve it, and finding most of their versions absurdly expensive or deficient or both, I took it upon myself to buy a paella cookbook and do some online research, buy some paella pans, and shop for the various ingredients that have a long shelf life so that the key ingredients would always be on hand. Obviously rice is one of those ingredients. We have a local brick-and-mortar store called The Spanish Table, and I tried several of the rices that they had. I found all of them to be fine, but in each case, despite having had the temperature in my stove checked by a technician and using an oven thermometer, the times quoted in pretty much every paella recipe I have tried were too short to fully absorb the liquid, and so the appeal of this particular rice, which is not available locally, was the supposed ability to absorb more liquid, which some suggest gives the rice more flavor. I thought it would make it easier to get a proper crust. I found no substantive, obvious difference between the absorption characteristics or ultimate flavor of this rice versus others I have used. Like the others I have used, it tastes just fine. It required the same amount of time to fully absorb the liquid as other rices I have used. In terms of benefit, the primary benefit is that it costs a bit less than the rices I purchased locally. Getting a proper crust on the bottom requires a longer cooking time than recipes suggest. If you have had similar issues and think this rice will solve the problem, that was not my experience. I am just going to start dialing back on the liquid despite the product claims of 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 liquid to rice ratios. I suspect that this will get me a crust in a shorter time, and will avoid overcooking the shellfish in the process. The bottom line is that I like this rice, and will likely buy it again, particularly if the rice remains where it is and it is a better value. I will ignore the instructions to use a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio of liquid to rice. I don't know whether these absorption claims are purely marketing, and their version of mine is bigger than yours, but I have not noted any obvious or substantive difference in the behavior of this and other Bomba rices when compared to the various types of rice used to make risotto. I have not tried making a paella with Arborio rice, but may do so at some point in the future just to see how that cooking experiment works out.

I made my first Paella with this rice and was extremely impressed. At first I was concerned that at the second addition of chicken stock (halfway through the cooking cycle per Alton Brown) the rice would not absorb all of the liquid, but it certainly did. It even took a bit more at the very end. The rice was tender, but firm, and delicious. One of the great things about this rice is that because of its starch makeup, it stays moist and tender even while cold - - it tastes great right out of the fridge! I will definitely be buying more and in greater quantities.

Made for a delicious paella but I wish I followed the directions more closely. You add in way more water than you usually do for normal rice but cook it with the lid off. As a result, when it was supposed to be done, the rice still seemed a tad hard but all the water was gone. So I added a bit more water and cooked a little longer. As a result, the bottom got burnt and the rice was a little mushy. It still tasted delicious but I think it would have been better if I hadn't tried to improve it.