California and South Carolina are the usual sources for American-grown rice, but you can add New Jersey to the list. In Pennington, southwest of New Brunswick, Blue Moon Acres is cultivating assorted rices. There are medium- and long-grain brown rice; white sushi rice; a mix of short-grain brown and black rice, called black and tan, that turns purplish when cooked; and an Italian rice, short-grain Maratelli, for risotto and paella. The rices are husked to order and delivered very fresh, so they often need slightly shorter cooking times than recommended. They are grown according to Korean natural farming techniques that encourage the growth of healthy microorganisms in the soil to eliminate the need for chemical applications. They are also said to be uncontaminated by heavy metals like arsenic, which has been found in some rice crops.
Blue Moon Acres, $10 a pound, bluemoonacres.com.
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