Vialone Nano

A small, stubby, homely grain well endowed with amylose, the starch that does not soften easily in cooking, although it has enough of the softer starch to qualify it as a suitable variety for risotto. It is the nearly unanimous choice in the Veneto, where the preferred consistency is loose—rippling or all’onda, to use the Venetian expression—and where people are partial to a kernel that offers considerable resistance to the bite. It is an excellent variety to use for the delicately conceived Venetian-style risottos with seafood or spring vegetables.