Lotus Foods Review and Giveaway

We love to experiment with new and different foods here at the Grant household and when I ran across Lotus Foods I couldn’t wait to try their different varieties of rice! Now we eat a lot of rice here and I will admit that the plain ol’ white rice we eat weekly can get a little boring no matter what you decide to mix it with so when we got the opportunity to try a sampling of different rice from around the world I couldn’t wait to get started cooking!

About Lotus Foods:

Explore Lotus Foods' World of Rice and savor exotic tastes from faraway places! These heirloom and exotic rices are some of the most distinctive varietals now available in the marketplace. Grown on small family farms in limited quantity, Lotus Foods' rices and rice flours are recognized for their exceptional flavors, cooking quality, texture, and nutritional value.

Staff of life for over half the world, rice is finally awakening the American palate. Founded in 1993 by Ken Lee and Caryl Levine, Lotus Foods is committed to finding unusual rices from remote corners of the world - bringing you rare, ancient, and new grains that are almost impossible to duplicate anywhere else. From region to region, the unique soil, water, and growing conditions combine to produce rices that are flavorful, colorful and aromatic. These world rices are prized and cellared like fine wine. As more westerners are exploring rice varieties beyond the basic white, Lotus Foods believes that rice is truly coming of age. We invite you to enjoy the pleasures of their wonderful new and ancient rices.

Our Thoughts:

We were sent a wonderful sampling of rice from around the world to review and I can’t tell you how fun it has been getting to try all the unique rice I didn’t even know existed until I came across Lotus Foods! We were sent:

Forbidden Rice

Volcano Rice

Jade Pearl Rice

Madagascar Pink Rice

Bhutanese Red Rice

Mekong Flower Rice

(To learn more about each rice just click the name)

We could not wait to get started cooking when they arrived and we have cooked and samples all the rice listed above and we have each discovered that we all enjoyed each of the variety of rice, they are all super delicious and each unique in taste in their own right!

Each of the rice mentioned above have a unique and different flavor from any I have ever had before eating rice and I will continue to purchase and use these varieties in new recipes that I found online at Lotusfoods.com. I didn’t use any of the rice we were sent to sample in recipes because I felt like we just needed to taste the rice in it’s natural glory and will defiantly be trying them each out in new recipes for the family!

We all love the varieties mentioned above but we each have our main favorite and for our 2yr old “Bug” it’s the Madagascar Pink Rice, he ate every bit of it on his plate and then asked for seconds twice so this is a must have for him! I love the Forbidden Rice the best, it’s so delicious and looks so beautiful on your plate! My husband was partial to the Mekong Flower Rice and said it’s now a must have for our pantry!

Bottom Line:

I am so thrilled that we discovered Lotus Foods and their wonderful rice varieties that they offer and it’s really changed the way we look at our plain ol’ white and wild rice that we used to eat on a weekly basis! Now, I can provide my family with new and unique rice varieties that are not only super delicious and temp our taste buds but they are also very healthy and as a mother and a wife I feel wonderful putting each of them on my families dinner plate!

Buy It:
To purchase any of the rice varieties mentioned above for yourself visit their website, also be sure to check out their other varieties!

Win It:
Lotus Foods has offered one of my readers the same amazing sample pack that I received so you can discover Lotus Foods Rice for yourself!

Mandatory Entry: Visit Lotus Foods and tell me something you learnt that I didn‘t mention here or a rice you would like to try most! Please remember to leave your e-mail address if it’s not visible in your profile.

Want or need extra entries? Check out how to grab em’ below! (Mandatory Entry must be complete for these to count)

1. Become a public follower of my blog (current follower count too)

2. Follow me on twitter @sgrant2005 and tweet this giveaway (can be done daily)

3. Subscribe to my feed via a reader

4. Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post and to Lotus Foods and be sure to leave me a link (5 extra)

5. Follow Lotus Foods on Twitter

6. “Like” Lotus Foods on Facebook

Giveaway ends Sept 13, 2010 @ midnight CST. Winner will be chosen at random, using random.org and contacted by e-mail and has 48 hrs to respond before a new winner is chosen.

This review is based strictly my opinion. Others may have a different opinion with the product listed above. I did receive the rice samples mentioned above complementary for this review. No monetary compensation was received.