Aparroz

The rice production is an activity that is practiced in the Valley of Sado, next to Alcácer do Sal, from the middle of century XVIII. But it was only about two decades ago that the producers of the region decided to join in an association, the Aparroz: Rice Producers' Group of the Sado Valley. With this, explains commercial director Luís Vaz, they became stronger: they started to buy and sell the raw material together and counting on the specialized support of engineers and agronomists. What makes Aparroz special - apart from the exceptional geographical conditions of the Sado Valley for the cultivation of rice - is the fact that only monovarietal lots are produced there. That is, there are no mixtures. And this is important because even within the Carolino rice, the national rice par excellence, there are subspecies with very own characteristics, that are better adapted to one or another dish: of the powerful Ronaldo, the most productive (only one hectare of rice produce 10 tons of this rice) to the most common Ariete and Euro. To get an idea of ​​how the Portuguese like rice, Luís Vaz explains that three years ago, the consumption per capita in our country was 16 kilos per person. The European average? Three and a half kilos. It is surprising, therefore, that the expression "I give you rice" is still considered threatening. It should be the other way around.