Igiea Adami, Piedmont. Carnaroli and Aromatic Rice

Busonengo, Vercelli

The tiny hamlet of Busonengo in the north east of Piedmont has belonged to the family of Igiea Adami since the 1860s. It is in an area of wild flatlands called the Baraggia where poor, clay soil fed with cold waters channeled straight off the Monte Rosa massif in the Alps provides the perfect growing conditions for Carnaroli rice. The cold mountain water brings with it nutrients and creates a special microclimate with big temperature fluctuations that shock the rice plants so the grains are small and full of flavour. Surrounded by industrial rice farming which threatens the fragile ecosystem of the Baraggia Igiea has been forging a different path where the land is farmed naturally. Farm buildings are topped with the huge nests of white storks; these birds have finally returned to the Baraggia, fishing for frogs in the pure waters of Igiea's rice paddies