A newly created Taiwanese rice strain specially developed for making risotto is anticipated to enter mass production by the end of 2024. The strain, called “Hualien No. 26” has already secured contracts with two Western ingredient suppliers and the local Fuli Township Farmers' Association for the technology transfer and should be available to Taiwanese customers by year-end.
“Hualien No. 26” was developed by the Agriculture Ministry’s Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station (HDARES) and took seven years of development to perfect. It was bred using Italian rice as the female parent and Taiwanese rice as the male parent.
Taiwanese businesses have been importing Italian white rice to make risotto for nearly 20 years. Import volumes have increased over the years, exceeding 100 metric tons in 2014, and 200 metric tons in both 2017 and 2020, demonstrating the demand for risotto rice in the country.
HDARES researcher Huang Chia-hsing (黃佳興) says that “Hualien No. 26” is more suitable for Taiwanese tastes because it tastes softer and more elastic than Italian risotto rice due to the Taiwanese rice parent. HDARES adds that the cooking time of the new strain will be shorter than that of Italian rice, at only 12 minutes.