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PGI — Languedoc-Roussillon
Riz de Camargue: a grain born of the Rhône and fresh water, the flavour of France's first rice.
Cereal from Languedoc-Roussillon, PGI (IGP) since 2000.
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The earliest traces of Camargue rice date back to the 13th century, but it was a royal decree that officially sealed the alliance between the Camargue and rice: on 23 August 1593, Henri IV, advised by his minister Sully, ordered sugar cane, madder and rice to be cultivated in the delta. Modern rice cultivation, however, only truly began in the 19th century, following the dyking of the Rhône in 1855. The blockade from 1940 to 1945, which cut France off from its rice imports — both colonial and foreign —, and the resulting food shortages prompted farmers and public authorities to revive cultivation on a massive scale after the war: major land-clearing projects, irrigation networks, silos and processing mills transformed the delta, driven by the spirit of the Marshall Plan.
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Beneath the Camargue delta lies a saline water table that constantly threatens to rise through capillary action: rice, the only crop capable of utilising so much fresh water, is also the only effective means of flushing out this salt and making the land arable. Each plot, equipped with its own water inlet and outlet, is flooded and then drained according to the rhythm of the seasons and the stage of crop growth — a meticulous irrigation network, maintained by the rice growers, that waters the entire delta. More than 90% of French rice cultivation is now located within a protected area, in the Parc naturel régional de Camargue and the UNESCO biosphere reserve; the Camargue is a major migratory stopover for European birdlife, with over 150,000 waterbirds passing through each year, and the cattle egret, which settled in the delta in the 1950s, has in particular thrived thanks to the growth of rice farming. Riz de Camargue obtained PGI in 2000, having already earned a medal of honour at the 1856 Exposition Universelle: today, around 200 rice growers produce nearly a third of France's rice consumption on this land.
Appearance
Four distinct varieties — long white rice (long, slender, pearlescent grain), round rice (short and plump), red rice (reddish-brown bran, white starch at the centre), black rice (dark pericarp, violet reflections)
Aroma
Subtle and cereal-like, slightly sweet for the white; notes of toasted hazelnut for the coloured varieties
Taste
Delicate and neutral for the long white; pronounced hazelnut and a robust flavour for the red and black
Texture
Grains that separate cleanly after cooking (long white), creamy and binding (round), supple and slightly firm (red, black)
between April and May, dry or in water, on plots each equipped with an independent water inlet and outlet
between mid-September and late October, using combine harvesters, after draining the plot
in silos, within the geographical area, down to a moisture content of 15% or less
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Long-grain Riz de Camargue is the soul of Camargue paella — garnished with taureau de Camargue, moules de Bouzigues and vegetables from the mas. Its grains, which stay nicely separated even after long cooking, absorb the saffron stock without turning sticky.
Round rice calls for risotto: its starch content yields a natural creaminess that rivals the finest Italian rices. Red rice, firm and flavourful, is well suited to mixed salads — tossed with fresh herbs, grilled vegetables and a drizzle of olive oil — or served with Camargue wildfowl.
Tradition: in a gardiane camarguaise (bull stew), white Riz de Camargue is the indispensable companion — served on the side or cooked in the sauce, it absorbs the rich juices of the stew and is transformed by them.
Since: 2000
Area covered: Camargue sensu stricto, Petite Camargue, Camargue gardoise, Plan du Bourg — communes of Gard and Bouches-du-Rhône, demarcated area of 146,000 ha
Key requirements: Production and processing carried out entirely within the area, varieties selected each year by the industry as a whole, documented traceability at each stage (grower, storer, rice miller, packager), moisture content ≤ 15%, broken grain rate ≤ 5%
Trade association
Family-run
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