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Lotus Foods A World of Rice products are the most distinctive ancient and new rices now available in the marketplace. These ancient and new rices are grown on small family farms in limited quantity and are recognized for their exceptional cooking quality, taste and texture. They can be found in specialty gourmet and natural food retail markets as well as "white table-cloth" restaurants throughout the US.

Carnaroli Rice

Forbidden Rice®

Forbidden Rice®, Bhutanese Red Rice, Kalijira Rice, Brown Kalijira Rice, Carnaroli Rice, Organic Jasmine Rice, Organic Brown Jasmine Rice

Forbidden Rice®

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Forbidden Rice®

Favorable articles about Lotus Foods have appeared in newspapers such as:

• The Boston Herald
• The Kansas City Star
• The New York Times
• The Oakland Tribune
• The Palm Beach Sun Sentinel
• The Philadelphia Inquirer
• The Portland Oregonia
• The San Francisco Chronicle
• The San Francisco Examiner
• The Wall Street Journal
• The Washington Post
• The Asian Wall Street Journal

Some of the nations most acclaimed food magazines have also had complimentary things to say about Lotus Foods products. These include:

• Chef Magazine
• Fine Cooking
• Food and Wine
• Food Arts
• Food Distribution Magazine
• Gourmet
• The Gourmet Retailer
• Natural Health Magazine
• The New York Times Magazine
• Organic and Natural
• Veggie Life
• Living Without
• Pastry Art & Design
• Wine & Dine
• Wine Spectator
• Williams-Sonoma Taste

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Several notable chefs are using Lotus Foods products on their menus - Wolfgang Puck, Chinois on Main; Gary Danko, Gary Danko's; Charlie Trotter, Charlie Trotter's; Ed Brown, Sea Grille; Jody Adams, Rialto; Mark Franz, Farallon; Brent Pollack, Azie; Sarah Stegner, Ritz Carlton Chicago; Joel Antunes, Ritz Carlton, Buckhead; Nora Pouillon, Restaurant Nora; Cory Shreiber, Wildwood; John Doherty, Waldorf Astoria; Daniel Paterson, Elizabeth Daniels; Arnold Wond, EOS; Laurent Manrique, Campton Place; Michelle Bernstein, Azul - to name a few.

"There's a Bhutanese Red Rice that's grown up in the Himalayas. It's got a really buttery, delicious flavor. There's also something that's called forbidden rice because it was used in China only for members of the emperor's court. It's deep purple...with a woody, straw, nutty flavor that goes great with delicate poultry."

Charlie Trotter
The Wall Street Journal

Kaipen, a sheet of intensely flavored dried algae from Southeast Asia, is the newest example of how the Spice Route runs in the age of the Internet. Discovered on the Mekong River in northern Laos, this exotic ingredient has made its way into top American chef's kitchens and is now in home cook's hands.

Not a one-note trend like wasabi or coconut milk, kaipen is peasant food meant to be either a seasoning or a vegetable. It has the rough sophistication of outsider are: Deep green algae is pounded into paper-thin sheets with tomatoes, garlic, scallions and galangal (an Asian spice that tastes like a mixture of ginger and pepper), dusted with sesame seeds and bound with tamarind juice. The result is like spinach with passport, nori without the faint fishiness.

Laotians use kaipen to season soup or ice, or they eat it as fried chips. It's most fascinating, though, as a wrapper for roasted striped bass. The top side gets crisp, the bottom as soft as a puree, while the fish absorbs the haunting flavor.

Metropolitan Home
March/April 2003

Not long ago, the only rice most Americans knew came in fluffy, long grains that were as white as Uncle Ben's hair and as boring as instant mashed potatoes. But exotic rices such as black forbidden rice from China, red rice from the Camargue in France, and black- and mahongany-speckled Japonica rice from California are "awakening American palates" says Caryl Levine, co-owner of Lotus Foods in El Cerrito, Calif. Since 1995, Lotus has been working with small farmer to preserve and expand production of heirloom varieties such as gobindavog (Lotus sells it as Kalijira) from Bangladesh. And they can be bought for a mere $4 to $6 a pound.

Wine Spectator
September 15, 2002

Stocking the Rice Aisle

The rice selections in gourmet stores across the country are expanding. With such exotic varieties as Forbidden Black Rice of China and Bhutanese Red Rice... plenty of new products are available to invigorate your department. Many retailers say that rice is selling like never before...

"The Forbidden Rice® and the Bhutanese Red Rice are whole-grain rices, but with significantly higher nutritional value than ordinary brown rice. Plus, the red rice cooks up in 20 minutes, the same amount of time as for white rice, and the Forbidden Rice®, even though it's black and therefore, unhulled, cooks in 30 minutes."

Move over pasta—this just may be the era of specialty rice. A plethora of good cookbooks devoted to the subject stand ready to support it, such as Rice: The Amazing Grain by Marie Simmons.

James Mellgren
Gourmet Retailer

"Bhutanese Red Rice, the new darling of the culinary world..."

Florence Fabricant
New York Times

"I became intrigued with the new red rice from Bhutan and prepared it with tiny clams and chorizo sausage. Using seafood and pork together, kind of Portugese style, seemed right. It's an assertive rice that calls for spice."

Ed Brown, Chef
Sea Grill, NY

"I made a fabulous confetti vegetable salad by combining the cooked black rice with diced seasonal vegetables, orange zest and walnut oil."

Steve Petusevsky
Vegetarian Today, Palm Beach Sun Sentinel

"For a gorgeous risotto: Kalijira Rice (or "baby basmati"), saffron-enhanced stock, thyme and pepper. Pan toast different sorts of rice - the fragrant Kalijira from Bangladesh as well as the short grained red rice from Bhutan before adding hot water or broth, and each grain will wear its distinction proudly, with the dish as a whole achieving a full nutty fragrance."

Molly O'Neil
New York Times Magazine

"I think they've done a good job of picking (varieties)... praises the black rice for its tenderness and the red rice for its pleasantly grainy taste. And you're talking to a person whose fundamental bias is to eat white rice."

Naomi Duguid, Co-Author "Seductions of Rice"
San Francisco Chronicle

"I adore the Lowell Farms Organic Jasmine Rice. You cook that rice and it has the most incredible aroma and texture and sweetness. The grains are all perfect."

Marie Simmons, Author
Rice the Amazing Grain

"I think the Cal Riso arborio rice is great. It has a very good resistance in the cooking. I thought it was just delightful. I'm always skeptical when we try to copy something, but this is a lovely rice. I'd use it anytime."

Weezie Mott, Cooking Teacher
San Francisco Chronicle

"Lotus Foods Rice is of the highest quality, extremely consistent and provides the exotic flavors our discerning customers demand and by the way, the rice salads in our deli case are selling quite well!"

Paul Shields
Lazy Acres, Santa Barbara, CA

"Forbidden Rice® Salad was the number one seller in the Chelsea Whole Foods salad bar, which was rated tops in the city."

Mitch Madoff, Prepared Foods Team Leader
Whole Foods, Edgewater, NJ

"The Forbidden Rice® salad made from Lotus Foods wonderfully exotic black rice is one of the most requested offerings in our deli case".

Louis Centeri, Prepared Foods Team Leader
Whole Foods, New York, NY

"My favorite product from Lotus is the China Black Forbidden Rice®. The flavor and texture are wonderful, and the look of the finished dish is very dramatic."

Colleen Malloy, Prepared Foods Team Leader
Whole Foods, Sebastopol, CA

"We have a hard time keeping the rice dishes in stock! Lotus Foods artisan products consistently offer the highest quality, look and taste that our customers appreciate."

Andrew Roberts, Prepared Foods Team Leader
Whole Foods, San Francisco, CA

"Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your rice products.

I used Forbidden Rice to make a lovely tabbouleh - the exotic deep purple color of the cooked rice was gorgeous with the bright green of the parsley and the red tomatoes. I also made a simple supper using fire-roasted veggies, blackberries, a balsamic dressing and the Forbidden Rice.

There is a wonderful Italian recipe using asparagus and pine nuts with rice, and I made this with Bhutan Red Rice and a dijon dressing. The nutty flavor and texture of the rice is a nice counterbalance to the delicate asparagus."

Susan M. Cole

"Received your web address from a quilter friend. Found it to be most informative and interesting! Now I know there are more than just long-grain and medium-grain types of rice!"

Frances Dolph

"I love your tiny rice. How can I get more?"

Oma C. Hibdon

"MMMMMMMM! Yum, the Forbidden Rice® is the best rice I have ever eaten."

Pamela Everets

"Thank you so much for making authentic Bhutanese Red Rice available."

Dr. James Bond