All what you need to live and enjoy of an enriching cultural experience in Spain
You ask me why I buy rice and flowers?
I buy rice to live and flowers to have something to live for.
Confucius.
In Valencia, rice has been grown for over 1000 years on the wet and flood-prone lands around La Albufera, its prized white grains nourishing various cultures throughout history. Rice farming is deeply ingrained in Valencian culture, and in its myriad of culinary bombinations, rice is the king of valencian cuisine.
In Valencia, 120 million kilos of rice are grown under the umbrella of the Regulatory Council of the D.O. Arroz de Valencia guarantee of origin. Several varieties include which are ideally suited to the conditions of the La Albufera natural park. 
These varieties absorb liquid really well and have an extremely pleasant texture and taste, perfectly complementing their fundamental attribute as a flavours carrier. Unlike other varieties, cooked grains of Bomba rice do not split along their length but instead become fissured across their widh, like an accordion, and expand to two or three times the lengh or the length of the uncooked grain.
Rice Farming in La Albufera of Valencia, Spain
Traditional rice farming covers a whole year and involves painstaking work by the farmers, which is carried out in for stages: preparation of the land, sowing, hoeing and harvesting. The fields are prepared with fertilizer in February and then flooded in April, after which the rice seedlings are set uniformly throughout the field, planted in straight lines with the workers moving backwards so as to avoid stepping on the newly planted seedlings.
During the summer months the fields are hoed and then, in September, when the plants have grown, the rice is harvested.
Gastronomy and Beyond in Valencia Region
The Region of Valencia’s rice-based diet is fruit of its climate and diversity, its fertile lowlands and orchards, its sea and its sun.
Did you know Paella is originary from Valencia? The Valencian Paella is the king of our delicious Gastronomy, our most important dish, the Paella is well known worldwide. The Valencian rice and the fresh locally grown vegatables from the valencian orchards makes it sublime. The rice-growing reserve of La Albufera, with almost 3000 hectares of land flooded by the river Jucar and in full production, is a natural gem capable of supporting and incredible world of life and biodiversity.
Venamicasa proposes two trails through the rice fields which reveal the reality of a crop introduced to the Iberian Peninsula following the Muslim conquest of 711.
During the vist to the rice fields we explain how the entire farming process has evolved, from preparing soil through to planting and sowing, visiting the Albufera Natural Park and Lagoon at the same time, an interesting and amazing cultural trip where you can know and admire the flora and fauna of the natural reserve, a ride boat trip of fishermen to admire the sunset in an amazing environment of great beauty.
Get further information about La Albufera Natural Park and Lagoon in Valencia
