Daily rice

PalmThe first signs of rice in Mallorca date back to the Andalusian period, when the Muslims introduced wetland cultivation and sophisticated irrigation techniques. After the Catalan conquest (1229), the new settlers maintained some crops, but for health reasons, rice cultivation was restricted and almost disappeared. During the modern centuries, the rice consumed in Mallorca was imported mainly from Valencia and also from Italy. Notarial deeds and customs books from the 17th century record constant imports of Valencian rice and, to a lesser extent, Italian rice. In the mid-19th century, projects for the drainage and agricultural transformation of the Albufera began. The English company New Majorca Land had made large investments in canals, drainage, and hydraulic works, but the returns were not as expected, and it ended up selling the land. Joaquim Gual de Torrella acquired ownership of a large part of the Albufera after several lawsuits with the English company, seeking to turn it into an economic and agricultural engine. Among his most ambitious projects was an attempt to cultivate rice on a large scale. To launch this project, he leased the farm to a Valencian company, Agrícola Industrial Balear SA, which began planting varieties such as 'Bomba' and 'Monquilino'. However, difficulties soon arose: floods that brought saline water and destroyed crops, market fluctuations, and the persistence of endemic diseases such as malaria. In 1906, a tidal surge ruined the plantations, and before 1908, the leasing company abandoned the operation. Although Gual de Torrella regained direct control of the land, rice cultivation never became established as a stable activity. At the same time, the family promoted other uses of the wetland, such as harvesting reeds for their own paper mill, founded in 1917, and the development of vegetable gardens and pastures. According to the work of Damià Duran (Rice production and crisis in Sa Pobla i Muro (1980, 2003), The Gall Editor) there are two stages of rice production. On the one hand, the latifundist period from 1901 to 1908 and the other, from 1909 to 1973, a phase during which smallholder farming was practiced by peasants who cultivated in the candles. Today, the rice planted is the bombilla variety, on land in the Marjal using sprinkler irrigation and can be planted from early April to the first half of May.

A staple food

Rice is one of the staple foods in our diet, and we associate it with holidays as well as everyday dishes. The first recipes mentioning rice in Mallorca are found in the cookbook of Friar Jaume Martí (18th century). These include various recipes for making rice pudding, rice with cod, or dry rice. The Llabrés cookbook, a century later, introduced other ways of cooking rice, some clearly influenced by Italy, such as rice parmesan and rice balls reminiscent of arancini. These unique dishes contrast with recipes in which rice is cooked with the simplest and most humble ingredients, with seasonal or leftover produce. This is the case with the family rice (The practical cook, Felanitx 1935), which is made with meat from the previous day's meat or the dry rice from the day before, which uses eggplant or spinach in addition to the sofrito. Another humble rice dish, but no less flavorful, is rice with cabbage. It almost always starts with a sofrito with pork chop, but it's also common to make it in a simpler way, using chop, blood sausage, and sobrasada (a type of sausage), or even just vegetables. It's very common to add potatoes, artichokes, or beans. Since it's mushroom season, I took advantage of the opportunity to include it. It's not difficult at all, nor does it take much time if you make it without meat. I think it's an extraordinary dish made with ingredients easily accessible to anyone. Another sister dish to this one would be marsh rice, which we wouldn't add cabbage to.